Isolation and chromosomal localization of a novel nonerythroid ankyrin gene

Immunoreactive isoforms of erythrocyte ankyrin have been shown to be present in a variety of nonerythroid tissues. Isolation of the genes that encode these isoforms will clarify their relationship to erythrocyte ankyrin. Using an erythrocyte ankyrin cDNA clone as a hybridization probe, we screened a human genomic library and isolated a clone that hybridizes with the probe at low stringency but not at high stringency. Partial nucleotide sequence of the clone revealed the presence of a 99-bp segment that is homologous to an exon of the erythrocyte ankyrin gene. Northern analysis showed that a labeled fragment of the clone hybridized to a 7-kb message in RNA of fetal brain but not of erythroid cells, suggesting that this clone is part of a novel gene that is expressed predominantly in nonerythroid tissue. Comparison of the sequence of the genomic clone with that of a recently isolated cDNA clone for brain ankyrin (Otto et al., 1989) showed identity of 96 of 99 bp between the putative exon and a segment of the cDNA clone (V. Bennett, personal communication, 1991), suggesting that the genomic clone is part of a gene for nonerythroid ankyrin, which we have designated ANK2. By analysis of somatic cell hybrids and fluorescence in situ hybridization, we assigned ANK2 to human chromosome 4 at a position equivalent to bands 4q25-q27.