Previous studies in the mouse have shown that high levels of alpha-globin gene expression in late erythropoiesis depend on long-range, physical interactions between remote upstream regulatory elements and the globin promoters. Using quantitative chromosome conformation capture (q3C), we have now analyzed all interactions between 4 such elements lying 10 to 50 kb upstream of the human alpha clus...

Human hemoglobins, the oxygen carriers in the blood, are composed by two a-like and two b-like globin monomers. The -globin gene cluster located at 11p15.5 comprises one pseudogene and five genes whose expression undergoes two critical switches: the embryonic-to-fetal and fetal-to-adult transition. HBD encodes the d-globin chain of the minor adult hemoglobin (HbA2), which is assumed to be physi...

Expression of fetal γ-globin in adulthood ameliorates symptoms of β-hemoglobinopathies by compensating for the mutant β-globin. Reactivation of the silenced γ-globin gene is therefore of substantial clinical interest. To study the regulation of γ-globin expression, we created the GG mice, which carry an intact 183-kb human β-globin locus modified to express enhanced green fluorescent protein (e...

Activation of γ-globin gene expression in adults is known to be therapeutic for sickle cell disease. Thus, it follows that the converse, alleviation of repression, would be equally effective, since the net result would be the same: an increase in fetal hemoglobin. A GATA-1-FOG-1-Mi2 repressor complex was recently demonstrated to be recruited to the -566 GATA motif of the (A)γ-globin gene. We sh...

By sequencing regions flanking the beta-globin gene complex in mouse (Hbbc) and human (HBBC), we have shown that the beta-globin gene cluster is surrounded by a larger cluster of olfactory receptor genes (ORGs). To facilitate sequence comparisons and to investigate the regulation of ORG expression, we have mapped 5' sequences of mRNA from olfactory epithelium encoding beta-globin-proximal ORGs....

background: approximately 180 mutations have been described in β-thalassemia worldwide with specific spectrum in each ethnic population. this study determines the spectrum and the frequency of β-thalassemia mutations in patients with β-thalassemia trait and sickle cell-β-thalassemia.   methods: fifteen compound heterozygous sickle cell thalassemia (sct) and 23 β-thalassemia trait patients were ...

Previous studies of the Hpa I cleavage site-sickle cell hemoglobin gene linkage in various African populations suggested that the sickle gene arose independently more than once. In the present study we have performed restriction endonuclease haplotype analysis for the beta-globin-like gene cluster from four separate geographic areas in Africa, all of which possess the sickle gene. In Benin (Cen...

A new deletion of the beta-globin gene cluster has been characterized in two Italian brothers who are heterozygous carriers of a G gamma A gamma hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH). Restriction endonuclease mapping and DNA sequencing of the region encompassing the breakpoint show that the deletion starts 3.2 kilobases (kb) upstream from the delta gene and ends within the enhancer ...

Previous studies in the mouse have shown that high levels of -globin gene expression in late erythropoiesis depend on long-range, physical interactions between remote upstream regulatory elements and the globin promoters. Using quantitative chromosome conformation capture (q3C), we have now analyzed all interactions between 4 such elements lying 10 to 50 kb upstream of the human cluster and the...