Two non-allelic human interferon alpha genes with identical coding regions

A hitherto undescribed human interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) gene, IFN-alpha 13, has been isolated and characterized. Its entire coding sequence is completely identical with that of IFN-alpha 1; the 5' and 3' non-coding regions differ by 4.5% and 3.8%, respectively. As the two genes are not allelic, we conclude that the similarity is due to a very recent gene conversion event. Both genes are expressed in virus-induced leukocytes.