Variation in the sequence and modification state of the human insulin gene flanking regions

The nucleotide sequence of a highly repetitive sequence region upstream from the human insulin gene is reported. The length of this region varies between alleles in the population, and appears to be stably transmitted to the next generation in a Mendelian fashion. There is no significant correlation between the length of this sequence and two types of diabetes mellitus. We observe variation in the cleavability of a BglI recognition site downstream from the human insulin gene, which is probably due to variable nucleotide modification. This presumed modification state appears not to be inherited, and varies between tissues within an individual and between individuals for a given tissue. Both alleles in a given tissue DNA sample are modified to the same extent.