Genomic restriction endonuclease analysis and mapping of murine guanylate cyclase-A/atrial natriuretic factor receptor gene.

The membrane-bound form of guanylate cyclase represents a biologically active atrial natriuretic factor receptor (GC/ANF-R). We have constructed genomic map of murine GC-A/ANF-R gene using 17 different restriction endonucleases. The restriction mapping results indicated that murine GC-A/ANF-R gene is approximately 20 kb single copy with multiple smaller exons and bigger introns. The Kpn I and Sfu I restriction digests produced 27 kb and 35 kb fragments, respectively, which hybridized with 5'- and 3'-flanking cDNA probes. Both of these fragments should cover the entire murine GC-A/ANF-R genomic sequences. The southern blot hybridization of genomic DNA from human, rat and mouse, using murine 5'-flanking cDNA probe indicated the presence of higher variant sequences in the 5'-flanking region of GC-A/ANF-R gene among different species. The noncoding 5'-flanking probe (350 bp) hybridized only to mouse genomic DNA but not to the human or rat DNA. These sequence variations located in the noncoding 5'-flanking region of GC-A/ANF-R gene may explain the divergent evolutionary development among different species. This is the first demonstration of the restriction endonuclease digestion and genomic mapping of murine GC-A/ANF-R gene which should be valuable to the understanding of its regulation and function.