Genomic organization and chromosomal localization of the human and mouse genes encoding the α receptor component for ciliary neurotrophic factor

• Published in: Genomics (San Diego, Calif.) Calif.), 1995, Vol.25 (1), p.157-163
• Main Authors: Valenzuela, David M., Rojas, Eduardo, Le Beau, Michelle M., Espinosa, Rafael, Brannan, Camilynn I., Mcclain, Joyce, Masiakowski, Piotr, Ip, Nancy Y., Copeland, Neal G., Jenkins, Nancy A., Yancopoulos, George D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Chromosome Mapping; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9; Crosses, Genetic; DNA Primers; Exons; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Library; Genes. Genome; Hominidae - genetics; Humans; In Situ Hybridization; Introns; Macromolecular Substances; Male; Metaphase; Mice - genetics; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Muridae; Placenta - metabolism; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Pregnancy; Protein Sorting Signals - genetics; Rats; Receptor, Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor; Receptors, Nerve Growth Factor - genetics; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
• ISSN: 0888-7543; 1089-8646
• DOI: 10.1016/0888-7543(95)80121-2

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) has recently been found to share receptor components with, and to be structurally related to, a family of broadly acting cytokines, including interleukin-6, leukemia inhibitory factor, and oncostatin M. However, the CNTF receptor complex also includes a CNTF-specific component known as CNTF receptor α (CNTFRα). Here we describe the molecular cloning of the human and mouse genes encoding CNTFR. We report that the human and mouse genes have an identical intron—exon structure that correlates well with the domain structure of CNTFRα. That is, the signal peptide and the immunoglobulin-like domain are each encoded by single exons, the cytokine receptor-like domain is distributed among 4 exons, and the C-terminal glycosyl phosphatidylinositol recognition domain is encoded by the final coding exon. The position of the introns within the cytokine receptor-like domain corresponds to those found in other members of the cytokine receptor superfamily. Confirming a recent study using radiation hybrids, we have also mapped the human CNTFR gene to chromosome band 9p13 and the mouse gene to a syntenic region of chromosome 4.