Structure and organization of the human theta-class glutathione S-transferase and D-dopachrome tautomerase gene complex

Abstract

The structure and organization of the human Theta-class glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes have been determined. GSTT1 and GSTT2 are separated by approx. 50 kb. They have a similar structure, being composed of five exons with identical exon/intron boundaries. GSTT1 is 8.1 kb in length, while GSTT2 is only 3.7 kb. The GSTT2 gene lies head-to-head with a gene encoding d-dopachrome tautomerase (DDCT), which extends over 8.5 kb and contains four exons. The sequence between GSTT2 and DDCT may contain a bidirectional promoter. The GSTT2 and DDCT genes have been duplicated in an inverted repeat. Sequence analysis of the duplicated GSTT2 gene has identified an exon 2/intron 2 splice site abnormality and a premature translation stop signal at codon 196. These changes suggest that the duplicate gene is a pseudogene, and it has been named GSTT2P.