Structure and evolution of goat gamma-, beta C- and beta A-globin genes: three developmentally regulated genes contain inserted elements.

We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the goat fetal (gamma), preadult (beta C) and adult (beta A) globin genes. In contrast to other globin genes expressed in different stages of development, these three genes are highly homologous (approximately 90%) in both their coding and noncoding regions. The only major difference between them results from elements inserted into their large introns: gamma contains a 247 bp insertion, beta A contains a 318 bp insertion, and beta C contains both a 252 bp insertion and a 60 bp deletion. Based on comparisons of these three genes to each other and to two goat globin pseudogenes, psi beta X and psi beta Z, we conclude that gamma, beta A and beta C have diverged relatively recently, and that the two gene pairs psi beta X - beta C and psi beta Z-beta A arose via a block duplication of an ancestral pseudogene-functional gene pair. Moreover, as opposed to the human fetal genes (G gamma and A gamma), the goat gamma gene appears to be a true beta-like gene that has fetal-specific function. The insertions in gamma, beta A and beta C contain sequence features characteristic of transposon-like elements, and appear to be represented in multiple copies throughout the genome.