Structure and regulation of the murine Clara cell secretory protein gene

Clara cell secretory protein (CC10 or CCSP) is an abundant component of airway secretions and has the ability to bind small hydrophobic molecules. Genomic clones were isolated for the murine gene coding for Clara cell secretory protein. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the gene was composed of three exons that span 4316 bp. Organization of the murine CCSP gene was very similar to that of the rabbit gene that codes for the biochemically related uteroglobin protein. Messenger RNAs for both genes were coded for by three exons, counterparts of which encode similar structural and functional protein domains. Transcriptional regulatory elements in the 5' flanking DNA were conserved between species, as were the functional properties of these elements when characterized in assays of promoter function. These data support the notion that Clara cell secretory protein genes from the rat and mouse, and the uteroglobin gene in rabbit, represent interspecies homologues.