Mouse cytoskeletal gamma-actin: analysis and implications of the structure of cloned cDNA and processed pseudogenes

The nucleotide sequence corresponding to almost the whole of a mouse gamma-cytoskeletal actin mRNA was determined from overlapping cloned DNA copies derived from brain mRNA. Several gamma-actin processed pseudogenes were isolated from a library of cloned DBA mouse genomic DNA, and the nucleotide sequences of these were determined and compared with that of the cDNA. This showed that two of these pseudogenes had arisen from a gene duplication or amplification event, and indicated that they had subsequently undergone partial correction against one another. The relative ages of the pseudogenes were estimated on the basis of their percentage divergence from the cDNA sequence and these were compared with an estimation based on the number of presumed silent mutations in the cDNA since each pseudogene had arisen. Consistent results were obtained, except in the case of one pseudogene which also showed an anomalous regional distribution of differences from the cDNA sequence. One way of accounting for the features of this anomalous pseudogene is by postulating that it is derived from a second functional gene for gamma-actin, different from that represented by the cDNA described here.