Molecular Cloning and Transcriptional Mapping of the Mouse Cellular Retinoic Acid-Binding Protein Gene

The gene encoding the mouse cellular retinoic acid-binding protein (CRABP) has been isolated from a mouse genomic library and its structure has been determined. This gene spans approximately 10.5 kb and consists of four exons encoding 24, 59, 38, and 16 amino acid residues, respectively. This gene structure is very similar to the structures of other related genes belonging to the same protein family such as the human cellular retinol-binding protein, the rat cellular retinol-binding protein II, the rat fatty acid-binding protein, and the mouse adipocyte P2 protein. The site for transcription initiation has been mapped to the 93rd nucleotide upstream from the translation initiation codon ATG using both primer extension and RNase protection assays. From the DNA sequence, the promoter of the CRABP gene resembles those found in the “housekeeping” genes in that it is very G/C rich, lacks a TATA box, and contains multiple copies of the sequence GGGCGG. The deduced amino acid sequence of the translated region is identical to the amino acid sequence of the known bovine CRABP, and the DNA sequence of the transcribed region from the mouse gene shows approximately 78% homology to that of the bovine cDNA.