Primary structure of a gene encoding rat T-kininogen

Abstract A gene encoding the acute-phase reactant, T-kininogen, has been isolated from a rat genomic library. The nucleotide sequence of all exons as well as of a large portion of the introns was determined. The gene, T-KG , is approximately 24 kb in length and contains 11 exons. The promoter appears to be rather unusual in that there are no consensus CCAAT or TATAA boxes or SP1-binding sites. An A-rich region present upstream of the transcription start point may function as a TATAA-equivalent sequence. In addition, several potential glucocorticoid regulatory elements and a sequence similar to the AP-1 binding site are present in the 5' region of the gene. The intron/exon boundaries in this T-KG gene are identical to those seen in the human K-kininogen gene. This is consistent with the inclusion of T-KG in the cystatin supergene family of cysteine protease inhibitors.