Molecular cloning and characterization of the mouse thymocyte protein gene

Chicken thymocyte protein (cThy28) has recently been identified and implicated to be involved in apoptosis of avian lymphocytes, while its functional role remains undefined. To elucidate the role of Thy28, we have molecularly cloned the mouse Thy28 (mThy28) cDNA and clarified its genomic organization in the present study. The mThy28 cDNA encodes a 226 amino acid protein, whose sequence is highly conserved among bacteria, yeast and plants as well as vertebrates. Northern blot analysis revealed abundant expression of approximately 1 kb mRNA in testis, liver, brain and kidney with lower levels of the expression in thymus, spleen, heart and stomach. The mThy28 gene spans at least 7 kb of genomic DNA, and contains eight exons and seven introns. The 5'-flanking region of the mThy28 gene does not contain a typical TATA box, but contains a putative CCAAT box and presumably multiple transcription initiation sites. Potential Sp1, GATA-1, -2, -3, AP-1, and p300 binding sites were found in the 5'-flanking region of the mThy28 gene. The gene was mapped to mouse chromosome 9.