Structure of the human blood platelet membrane glycoprotein Ib alpha gene

The gene for human platelet glycoprotein Ib alpha-chain has been cloned from a genomic cosmid library using a partial cDNA clone as probe. 3530 bp were sequenced including the entire transcribed part, as well as additional 5' and 3' regions. A single intron was found 6 bp upstream of the ATG initiation codon. An exceptionally long exon was identical to the recently published cDNA sequence (1). The 5' upstream promoter region is atypical for eukaryotic genes with only a weak homology to the characteristic promoter consensus sequences. The 3' region contains two repetitive Alu elements, belonging to distinct subfamilies, connected by an oligo(dA) linker.