Comparison of total sequence of a cloned rabbit beta-globin gene and its flanking regions with a homologous mouse sequence.

The nucleotide sequence of a cloned rabbit chromosomal DNA segment of 1620 nucleotides length which contains a beta-globin gene is presented. The coding regions are separated into three blocks by two intervening sequences of 126 and 573 base pairs, respectively. The rabbit sequence was compared with a homologous mouse sequence. The segments flanking the rabbit gene, as well as the coding regions, the 5' noncoding and part of the 3' noncoding messenger RNA sequences are similar to those of the mouse gene; the homologous introns, despite identical location, are distinctly dissimilar except for the junction regions. Homologous introns may be derived from common ancestral introns by large insertions and deletions rather than be multiple point mutations.