Summary
Twelve clones containing histone genes were isolated from a genomic trout library constructed in the vector Charon 4A. Each of the clones was found to contain a conserved 10.2-kb Eco RI fragment that contained one copy of each of the histones in the order H4-H2B-H1-H2A-H3, all of which are transcribed from the same strand. Genomic Southern blots indicate that these clusters are representative of the vast majority of the histone genes in the trout. Tandemly linked clusters were not found. Approximately 145 copies of this cluster are present in a trout sperm cell. Sequence analysis has shown the genes to be without introns and to show strong selection for codons ending in C or G. Consensus signals similar to those found in other histone genes are present in the flanking regions.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Arceci RJ, Gross PR (1980a) Histone variants and chromatin structure during sea urchin development. Dev Biol 80:186–209
Arceci RJ, Gross PR (1980b) Sea urchin sperm chromatin structure as probed by pancreatic DNAse I. Dev Biol 80:210–224
Bailey G, Cocks G, Wilson A (1969) Gene duplication in fishes: malate dehydrogenases of salmon and trout. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 34:605–612
Benton W, Davis R (1977) Screening λ-gt recombinant clones by hybridization to single plaques in situ. Science 196:180–182
Birchmeier C, Grosschedl R, Birnstiel M (1982) Generation of authentic 3′ termini of an H2A mRNA in vivo is dependent on a short inverted DNA repeat and on spacer sequences. Cell 28:739–745
Bisbee CA, Baker MA, Wilson A, Hadji-Azimi I, Fischberg M (1977) Albumin phylogeny for clawed frogs. Science 195: 785–787
Cohen LH, Newrock KM, Zweidler A (1975) Stage-specific switches in histone synthesis during embryogenesis of the sea urchin. Science 190:994–997
Connor W, Mezquita J, States JC, Dixon GH (1983) Organization of histone genes and surrounding regions in rainbow trout. Fed Proc 42:1757
Connor W, Mezquita J, States JC, Dixon GH (1984) Organization and nucleotide sequence of rainbow trout histone H2A and H3 genes. J Mol Evol (in press)
Corden J, Wasylyk B, Buchwalder A, Sassone-Corsi P, Kedinger C, Chambon P (1980) Promoter sequences of eukaryotic protein-coding genes. Science 209:1406–1414
D'Andrea R, Harvey R, Wells JRE (1981) Vertebrate histone genes: nucleotide sequence of a chicken H2A gene and regulatory flanking sequences. Nucleic Acids Res 9:3119–3128
Engel JD, Sugarman JB, Dodgson JB (1982) A chicken H3 gene contains an intervening sequence. Nature 297:434–436
Franklin SG, Zweidler A (1977) Non-allelic variants of histone 2a, 2b and 3 in mammals. Nature 266:273–275
Gedamu L, Wosnick MA, Connor W, Watson DC, Dixon GH (1981) Molecular analysis of the protamine multigene family in rainbow trout testis. Nucleic Acids Res 9:1463–1482
Harvey R, Wells J (1979) Isolation of a genomal clone containing chicken histone genes. Nucleic Acids Res 7:1787–1798
Harvey RP, Kreig PA, Robins AJ, Coles LS, Wells JRE (1981) Non-tandem arrangement and divergent transcription of chicken histone genes. Nature 294:49–53
Harvey RP, Robins AJ, Wells JRE (1982) Independently evolving chicken H2B genes: identification of an ubiquitous H2B-specific 5′ element. Nucleic Acids Res 10:7851–7863
Heintz N, Zernik M, Roeder RG (1981) The structure of human histone genes: clustered but not tandemly repeated. Cell 24: 661–668
Hentschel C, Birnstiel M (1981) The organization and expression of histone gene families. Cell 25:301–313
Isenberg I (1979) Histones. Annu Rev Biochem 48:159–191
Kafatos F, Jones C, Efstratiadis A (1979) Determination of nucleic acid sequence homologies and relative concentrations by a dot hybridization procedure. Nucleic Acids Res 7:1541–1552
Kedes LH (1979) Histone genes and histone messengers. Annu Rev Biochem 48:837–870
Kornberg R (1977) The structure of chromatin. Annu Rev Biochem 46:931–954
Lifton RP, Goldberg ML, Karp RW, Hogness DS (1977) The organization of the histone genes inDrosophila melanogaster. functional and evolutionary implications. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 42:1047–1051
Louie A, Dixon GH (1972) Trout testis cells. 1. Characterization by deoxyribonucleic acid and protein analysis of cells separated by velocity sedimentation. J Biol Chem 247:5490–5497
Maniatis T, Jeffrey A, Kleid D (1975) Nucleotide sequence of the rightward operator of phage λ. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 72:1184–1188
Marzluff WF, Graves RA (1984) Organization and expression of mouse histone genes. In: Stein G, Stein J, Marzluff WF (eds) Histone genes and histone gene expression. John Wiley & Sons, New York (in press)
Maxam A, Gilbert W (1980) Sequencing end-labelled DNA with base specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol 65: 499–560
Maxson R, Cohn R, Kedes L, Mohun T (1983a) Expression and organization of histone genes. Annu Rev Genet 17:239–277
Maxson R, Mohun T, Gormezano G, Childs G, Kedes L (1983b) Distinct organizations and patterns of expression of early and late histone gene sets in the sea urchin. Nature 301:120–125
Moorman AFM, DeLaff RTM, Destree OHJ (1980) Histone genes fromXenopus laevis: molecular cloning and initial characterization. Gene 10:185–193
Ohno S (1970) Evolution by gene duplication. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 101–105
Old RW, Woodland HR, Ballentine JEM, Aldridge TC, Newton CA, Bains WA, Turner PC (1982) Organization and expression of cloned histone gene clusters fromXenopus laevis andX. borealis. Nucleic Acids Res 10:7561–7580
Rubeerti I, Fragapane P, Pierandrei-Amaldi P, Beccari E, Ameldi F, Bozzoni I (1982) Characterization of histone genes isolated fromXenopus laevis andXenopus tropicalis genomic libraries. Nucleic Acids Res 10:7543–7549
Schaffner W, Kunz G, Daetwyler H, Telford J, Smith HO, Birnstiel ML (1978) Genes and spacers of cloned sea urchin histone DNA analyzed by sequencing. Cell 14:655–671
Sierra F, Lichtler A, Marashi F, Rickles R, Van Dyke T, Clark S, Wells J, Stein G, Stein J (1982) Organization of human histone genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 79:1795–1799
Sierra F, Stein G, Stein J (1983) Structure and in vitro transcription of a human H4 histone gene. Nucleic Acids Res 11: 7069–7086
Sittman DB, Graves RA, Marzluff WF (1983) Structure of a cluster of mouse histone genes. Nucleic Acids Res 11:6679–6697
States JC, Connor W, Wosnick MA, Aiken JM, Gedamu L, Dixon GH (1982) Nucleotide sequence of a protamine component CII gene ofSalmo gairdnerii. Nucleic Acids Res 10:4551–4563
Stephenson EC, Erba HP, Gall JG (1981a) Characterization of a cloned gene cluster of the newtNotophthalmus viridescens. Nucleic Acids Res 9:2281–2295
Stephenson E, Erba H, Gall J (1981b) Histone gene clusters of the newtNotophthalmus are separated by long tracts of staellite DNA. Cell 24:639–647
Sugarman BJ, Dodgson JB, Engel JD (1983) Genomic organization, DNA sequence and expression of chicken embryonic histone genes. J Biol Chem 258:9005–9016
Sures I, Lowry J, Kedes L (1978) The DNA sequence of sea urchin (S. purpuratus) H2A, H2B and H3 histone coding and spacer regions. Cell 15:1033–1044
Trostle-Weige PK, Meistrich ML, Brock WA, Nishioka K, Bremer JW (1982) Isolation and characterization of TH2A, a germ cell-specific variant of histone 2A in rat testis. J Biol Chem 257:5560–5567
Turner PC, Woodland HR (1983) Histone gene number and organization inXenopus: Xenopus borealis has a homogeneous major cluster. Nucleic Acids Res 11:971–986
Van Dongen W, de Laaf L, Zaal R, Moorman A, Destree O (1981) The organization of the histone genes in the genome ofXenopus laevis. Nucleic Acids Res 9:2297–2312
Von Holt C, Strickland WN, Brandt WF, Strickland MS (1979) More histone structures. FEBS Lett 100:201–218
Zernik M, Heintz N, Boime I, Roeder R (1980)Xenopus laevis histone genes: variant H1 genes are present in different clusters. Cell 22:807–815
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Connor, W., Mezquita, J., Winkfein, R.J. et al. Organization of the histone genes in the rainbow trout (Salmo gairdnerii). J Mol Evol 20, 227–235 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02104729
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02104729