Genomic organization and characterization of the mouse ELYS gene

Differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells into blood cells is controlled by several transcription factors. Recently, we identified a putative transcription factor, ELYS (for embryonic large molecule derived from yolk sac), using a subtraction strategy. During mouse embryogenesis, ELYS transcripts were predominantly expressed in hematopoietic tissues, such as the yolk sac, aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM), and liver. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of the mouse ELYS gene. The ELYS gene spanned approximately 60kb encoding 36 exons, and was assigned between D1Mit315 and D1Mit458 markers in chromosome 1. The transcription initiation site was identified as the G residue located 670bp upstream of the translation start codon. A region downstream of the transcriptional start site contributed to high promoter activity. This region contained potential DNA elements for transcription factors such as GATA-1, -2, -3, heat shock factor (HSF) 2, and NF-kappaB, which are known to play important roles in hematopoietic events.