Rabbit serum amyloid a gene: cloning, characterization and sequence analysis

Abstract

A genomic DNA clone that encodes serum amyloid A protein has been isolated from a rabbit liver lambda EMBL3 genomic library. Southern blot analysis indicates that the cloned gene is a member of multiple SAA gene family in rabbit. The nucleotide sequence of this DNA shows that the cloned gene corresponds to a SAA cDNA recently isolated from an acute phase rabbit liver cDNA library (1). This rabbit SAA gene contains four exons which are located within a 4500-base pair region spanning a putative TATA box and an AATAAA polyadenylation signal. DNA sequence upstream of the major transcription start site also contains other structural elements such as the sequences for NF-kappa B, IL-6 receptor and Sp1 binding. Significance of these regulatory elements in SAA gene expression is discussed.