Isolation of the mouse (MFH-1) and human (FKHL 14) mesenchyme fork head-1 genes reveals conservation of their gene and protein structures.

The very recently found evolutionarily conserved DNA-binding domain of 100 amino acids, termed the fork head domain, emerged from a sequence comparison of the rat hepatocyte transcription factor HNF-3 alpha and the homeotic gene fork head of Drosophila. We previously isolated a new member of this family, the mesenchyme fork head-1 (MFH-1) gene, which is expressed in developing mesenchyme. Here we describe the isolation of the mouse (MFH-1) and human (FKHL14) chromosomal MFH-1 genes and the determination of the gene and protein structures of MFH-1. We found that the MFH-1 gene has no introns and that the identity of the amino acid sequences of mouse and human MFH-1 proteins is 94%. We also investigated the transcriptional activity of the mouse and human MFH-1 proteins and found that both proteins act as positive transactivators.