Characterization of the mouse collectin gene locus

Three of the four known mouse collectin genes have been mapped to chromosome 14. To further characterize the spatial relationship of these genes, a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library of mouse chromosome 14 was screened using mouse surfactant protein (SP)-A and -D complementary DNAs (cDNAs). One large clone hybridized to both SP-A and SP-D cDNAs and was found by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to contain sequences from one of the mouse mannose-binding lectin genes (Mbl1). We used Southern mapping and subcloning of overlapping restriction fragments to characterize the gene locus. Mapping was confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization of fiber-stretched BAC DNA and by Southern hybridization of restriction endonuclease-digested and PCR-amplified genomic DNA. We found that the SP-A, Mbl1, and SP-D genes reside contiguously within a 55-kb region. The SP-A and Mbl1 genes are in the same 5' to 3' orientation and 16 kb apart. The SP-D gene is in the opposite orientation to the two other collectin genes, 13 kb away from the 3' end of the Mbl1 gene. The mouse SP-D gene had not previously been characterized. We found its size (13 kb) and organization to be similar to that of human SP-D. Exon I is untranslated. The second exon is a hybrid exon that contains signal for initiation of translation, signal peptide, N-terminal domain, and the first seven collagen triplets of the collagen-like domain of the protein. Four short exons (III through VI) encode the collagen-like domain of the protein, and exons VII and VIII the linking and the carbohydrate-recognition domains, respectively.