The complete sequence of the gene encoding mouse cytokeratin 15

To characterize the type-I keratin-encoding gene family around the mouse keratin 19-encoding gene (K19, EndoC), which encodes simple epithelial-type cytokeratin (CK), we screened a mouse genomic library by hybridization to a K19 cDNA probe. One clone of 16 kb contained the second to the sixth exons of K19 and the other keratin-encoding gene was located about 4 kb downstream from K19. Sequencing, Northern hybridization and genomic Southern blotting revealed that the downstream gene encodes the mouse K15 gene. This gene consists of eight exons and the positions of the introns coincide with those of other type-I keratin-encoding genes. The 5' upstream regions of the mouse and human K15 genes contain homologous sequences around the respective TATA boxes, suggesting that the same factors are involved in the regulation of their transcription.