TMEM8 - a non-globin gene entrapped in the globin web.

ABSTRACT: For more than 30 years it was believed that globin gene domains included only genes encoding globin chains. Here we show that in chickens, the domain of alpha-globin genes also harbor the non-globin gene TMEM8. It was relocated to the vicinity of the alpha-globin cluster due to inversion of an approximately 170-kb genomic fragment. Although in humans TMEM8 is preferentially expressed in resting T-lymphocytes, in chickens it acquired an erythroid-specific expression profile and is upregulated upon terminal differentiation of erythroblasts. This correlates with the presence of erythroid-specific regulatory elements in the body of chicken TMEM8, which interact with regulatory elements of the alpha-globin genes. Surprisingly, TMEM8 is not simply recruited to the alpha-globin gene domain active

SUBMITTER: Philonenko ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2794187 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature