Cloning and characterization of a metal responsive element-containing fragment from the Wilson disease gene locus by...

All mammalian metallothionein genes studied to date have several metal responsive elements (MRE) with consensus sequences of TGCRCNC (R, purine) in their regulatory region. MRE-like sequences were also found in many other metal-related genes. To see whether there is also such a sequence at the genetic locus (13q14.3) of Wilson disease, which is a genetic disorder of copper metabolism, junction-trapping method based on the MRE sequence was used. A fragment containing MRE and MRE-like sequences from YAC 27D8 at the WND locus was successfully cloned and mapped back to the YAC by PCR. Presence of such a sequence in the copper transporter gene at the WD locus might imply that it has a possible interesting role in the regulation of WD gene expression.