Multiple mRNAs are generated from the chicken lysozyme gene.

We have determined the DNA sequence of a 770 bp Pst 1 fragment containing 450 nucleotides of the 5' flanking region of the chicken lysozyme gene. S1-nuclease mapping was performed to localize the 5' end of nuclear RNA containing lysozyme-specific sequences and of the mRNA. We present evidence that the 5' noncoding region of the chicken lysozyme mRNA is heterogeneous in length. The 5' termini of the different nRNAs map 29, 31 and 53 nucleotides upstream from their common initiation codon. The 5' ends of lysozyme-specific nuclear RNAs map at positions similar to that of the mRNA. AT-rich regions and sequences similar to the E. coli RNA polymerase recognition sequence are found around 30 and 70 nucleotides upstream from each of these 5' termini. The AT-rich regions differ, however, from the canonical Goldberg-Hogness box in that they do not contain the extremely conserved TATA sequence motif. Sequence comparison at the 5' end of the lysozyme, conalbumin and ovalbumin genes reveals only one region of partial homology, 140 nucleotides upstream from the mRNA start sites.