Nucleotide sequence of the gene for human prothrombin

Abstract

A human genomic DNA library was screened for the gene coding for human prothrombin with a cDNA coding for the human protein. Eighty-one positive lambda phage were identified, and three were chosen for further characterization. These three phage hybridized with 5' and/or 3' probes prepared from the prothrombin cDNA. The complete DNA sequence of 21 kilobases of the human prothrombin gene was determined and included a 4.9-kilobase region that was previously sequenced. The gene for human prothrombin contains 14 exons separated by 13 intervening sequences. The exons range in size from 25 to 315 base pairs, while the introns range from 84 to 9447 base pairs. Ninety percent of the gene is composed of intervening sequence. All the intron splice junctions are consistent with sequences found in other eukaryotic genes, except for the presence of GC rather than GT on the 5' end of intervening sequence L. Thirty copies of Alu repetitive DNA and two copies of partial KpnI repeats were identified in clusters within several of the intervening sequences, and these repeats represent 40% of the DNA sequence of the gene. The size, distribution, and sequence homology of the introns within the gene were then compared to those of the genes for the other vitamin K dependent proteins and several other serine proteases.