Chicken beta B1 crystallin: gene sequence and evidence for functional conservation of promoter activity between chicken and mouse.

The complete sequence was determined for the chicken beta B1-crystallin gene and 2.2 kbp of its 5' flanking region; the chicken gene was then compared to its rat ortholog. Although both have a 5' non-coding exon followed by 5 protein coding exons, the chicken gene is only 2.2 kbp while the rat gene is 13.6 kpb due to longer introns. The coding exons of the chicken beta B1-crystallin gene, like those of the rat and other beta-crystallin genes, each correspond to one of the four 'Greek key' motifs of the encoded protein. The only obvious similarity between the 5' flanking sequences of the chicken and rat beta B1-crystallin gene is associated with the TATA box. A CR1 repetitive element is present at positions -559 to -730 of the chicken beta B1-crystallin gene. In vivo footprinting using dimethyl sulfate/ligation mediated PCR showed that the PL-1 (-116/-102), PL-2 (-90/-76), OL-2 (-75/-68) and OL-1 (-125/-118) control elements identified previously (Roth et al. (1991) Mol. Cell. Biol. 11, 1488-1499) bind proteins within the chromatin of cultured embryonic chicken lens cells. Both -2448/+30 and -434/+30 promoter fragments from the chicken beta B1-crystallin gene directed lens-specific CAT gene expression in a copy number and position independent manner in transgenic mice. These data indicate that the structure and lens-specific expression of this gene are highly conserved although, like other crystallin genes, the 5' flanking sequences have diverged appreciably during evolution.