A human gene family with sequence homology to Drosophila melanogaster Hsp70 heat shock genes

• Published in: The Journal of biological chemistry 1986-01, Vol.261 (2), p.874-877
• Main Authors: Mues, G I, Munn, T Z, Raese, J D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Biological evolution; DNA Restriction Enzymes - metabolism; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Heat-Shock Proteins - genetics; Humans
• ISSN: 0021-9258; 1083-351X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0021-9258(17)36177-X

A growing literature describes the structure and regulation of prokaryotic and eukaryotic heat shock genes. We here report the isolation of several members of a human heat shock protein 70 (hsp 70) multigene family which contains at least 10 different genes and/or pseudogenes exhibiting sequence homology to the hsp70 gene of Drosophila melanogaster. Eight nonoverlapping recombinant lambda phages from a lambda-Charon4A human genomic library were studied by restriction mapping. One lambda clone was sequenced and characterized as a hsp70 pseudogene inserted into a rearranged human HindIII 1.9-kilobase repeated DNA sequence. This pseudogene is probably located on the X chromosome. Its predicted amino acid sequence shows extensive homology to those of Drosophila hsp70, trout hsp70, Xenopus hsp70, yeast hsp70, and some homology to the heat-inducible dnaK gene product of Escherichia coli. Amino acid homology is clustered, suggesting evolutionary conservation of domains critical to the function of this protein in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.