Biochemistry and genetics of esterase-20 (ES-20), a second trimeric carboxylesterase of the house mouse (Mus musculus). II. A unique recombination reveals ES-20 as a hybrid enzyme.

A unique recombination is described between (Es-1, Es-6) and (Es-9, Es-22) within gene cluster 1 of the esterase gene region on chromosome 8 of the house mouse. This recombination established the gene order Es-1--Es-6--(Es-9, Es-22)--Got-2. A further 73 recombinations, from a total of 911 backcrosses, had taken place between cluster 1 and cluster 2. A distance between the clusters of 8.01 +/- 0.90% was calculated; the genes within the clusters appeared more tightly linked than previously assumed. ES-20 behaved anomalously following the recombination within cluster 1: homozygous descendants of the recombinant expressed a new form of ES-20. In vitro incubation of purified ES-6A3 and ES-9A generated ES-20A, revealing this esterase to be a hybrid of different cluster 1 gene products, Es-9 and possibly Es-6. This result satisfactorily accounted for the genetic finding, as well as a range of biochemical properties of ES-20.