Structure of the rat platelet factor 4 gene: a marker for megakaryocyte differentiation.

A rat platelet factor 4 (PF4) cDNA has been isolated by immunoscreening a g lambda 11 rat megakaryocyte cDNA expression library. Sequence analysis of the rat PF4 cDNA revealed that this megakaryocyte protein is composed of a leader sequence of 29 amino acid residues and a mature protein sequence of 76 amino acid residues. The structure of rat PF4 derived from its cDNA shows a marked homology with the amino acid sequence of human PF4 obtained by classical protein chemistry techniques. This observation is particularly striking with regard to the carboxy-terminal region of rat and human PF4, where 28 of the last 31 C-terminal residues are identical. The rat PF4 gene was obtained from a rat genomic library by using rat PF4 cDNA as a hybridization probe. Sequence analysis showed that the gene is constructed of three exons and two short introns. The transcriptional start site is located 73 base pairs upstream of the translational start codon as judged by S1 nuclease mapping and primer extension. The 5' noncoding region of the gene also exhibited a sequence homologous to the TATA box at -31, as well as a series of direct and inverted repeat sequences and a cluster of 26 T residues at -155 to -218. This latter domain may be involved in regulating PF4 gene expression during megakaryocytopoiesis.