Polyadenylated and 3' processed mRNAs are transcribed from the mouse histone H2A.X gene

We have isolated a cDNA clone encoding a mouse histone H2A.X from a cDNA library of teratocarcinoma F9 cells. The predicted amino acid sequence of this clone is 97% identical to human histone H2A.X. The first 119 residues of the mouse H2A.X were very similar (96-97%) to those of the major H2A histones (H2A.1 and H2A.2) of mouse and the long carboxy terminal sequence of H2A.X was homologous with those of several lower eukaryotes. Northern blot analysis revealed that this cDNA hybridized with two mRNAs in different sizes, 0.5 kb and 1.4 kb. The two mRNAs were present in tissue culture cells, and in spleen, thymus and testes of mice, but the ratio of abundance of the two transcripts differed in different cells and tissues. The shorter mRNA contained the highly conserved palindromic sequence typical of the 3' end of replication-dependent histone genes. The amount of this transcript was coupled to DNA synthesis and rapidly decreased in culture cells. It was synthesized just after the beginning of S-phase and degraded just after the end of S-phase. On the other hand, the longer mRNA was polyadenylated at 0.9 kb downstream from the palindromic sequence. This transcript was very stable when compared with the shorter one. These results indicate that these two mRNAs are transcribed from a single gene and maintained differently during the cell cycle, perhaps to maintain a partially replication-dependent level of histone H2A.X.