Nucleotide sequence analysis of a zein genomic clone with a short open reading frame

The nucleotide sequence of the zein genomic clone (W22)Z7 and its flanking sequences from the W22 inbred line of maize is reported. The sequence is 1587 bp long and contains 444 bp of 5' noncoding sequence and 342 bp of 3' noncoding sequence. The Z7 sequence belongs to a large complex multigene family and is a member of the B49 subfamily. It is 86% homologous to other known sequences from the same subfamily, but contains four in-frame termination codons caused by single base changes. Its flanking regions contain the usual eukaryotic transcriptional signals.