Isolation and characterization of a genomic DDD mouse interleukin-3 gene

A chromosomal DNA segment containing the entire gene for interleukin-3 (IL-3) was isolated from DDD mouse erythroleukemia cells, and its gene organization and nucleotide sequence were determined. Enhancer-like sequences in the second intron and G + C-rich sequence in the 5'-flanking region may play a role in the regulation of tissue-specific and inducible gene expression. Southern blot analyses revealed that constitutively IL-3-producing WEHI-3 cells have the rearranged IL-3 gene, and that genomic DNAs prepared from the adult and fetal mouse liver have the same organization of the IL-3 gene. No IL-3 gene transcript was detected in the mouse erythroleukemia cells by Northern blot analysis.