Dispersion of argininosuccinate-synthetase-like human genes to multiple autosomes and the X chromosome

Abstract

DNA sequences closely homologous to argininosuccinate synthetase are present at ten or more distinct locations in the human genome, including sites on chromosomes 6, 9 and X. Argininosuccinate synthetase thus represents one of the most widely dispersed multigene families described to date, the first instance of a multigene family associated with an enzyme of intermediary metabolism and, perhaps most striking, the first instance of a multigene family with members on both autosomes and sex chromosomes.