Genomic sequence of the Chinese hamster MT I gene.

The metallothionein (MT) system has been used to analyze the structural features associated with the control of gene expression (1). A pre-requisite for this type of analysis is knowledge of the primary DNA sequence. We have isolated a clone containing the Chinese hamster MT I gene from a Charon 4A EcoRI total digest prepared from a Chinese hamster cell line amplified for the MT genes (XCH 4A-HA-20). The clone consists of 13 kb of DNA and contains the entire MT I gene and a portion of the MT II gene (Figure A). We have previously cloned the complete MT H gene (Figure A, see X590-HA-MT52). Combined, these two clones constitute the entire hamster MT locus. Southern blot analysis has indicated that these genes are separated by approximately 6 kb of DNA. Sequence analysis of the 1558 nucleotide Bgin/BgUI (Figure A) fragment containing the MT I gene was performed. The coding region of exon 1 runs from nucleotides 11 to 38. Exon II consists of nucleotides 507 to 571. Exon HI spans nucleotides 786 to 986, with the coding region ending at nucleotide 875 (2). The size of introns I and II are 467 nucleotides and 214 nucleotides, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequence is shown below the nucleotide sequence. Three sets of simple repetitive sequences are indicated by underlining (nucleotides 1192 to 1297) 3' to the polyadenylation site (3).