Complete genomic structure of mouse lysyl hydroxylase 2 and lysyl hydroxylase 3/collagen glucosyltransferase.

Lysyl hydroxylase is an enzyme involved in collagen biosynthesis, catalyzing the hydroxylation of lysyl residues as a post-translational event. Three isoforms have been characterized so far (LH1, LH2, LH3). Our recent findings indicate that LH3 possesses, not only lysyl hydroxylase activity, but also galactosylhydroxylysyl glucosyltransferase activity [Heikkinen et al., J. Biol. Chem. 275 (2000) 36158-36163]. We report here the characterization of mouse LH2 (Plod2) and LH3/glucosyltransferase (Plod3) genes. Plod2 spans approximately 50 kb of the genomic DNA, and is organized in 20 exons, one of the exons being alternatively spliced in the RNA processing. Plod3 spans approximately 10 kb of the genomic DNA, and contains 19 exons. Analysis of the 5' flanking region with many transcription start sites reveals the lack of a TATAA box in both genes. Sequence analysis indicated many retroposon-like elements within the Plod3 gene. A comparison was carried out among the LH1, LH2 and LH3 gene structures characterized so far from different species.