Canu N, Possenti R, Ricco A S, Rocchi M, Levi A
Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Scienze Biomediche, Seconda Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, 00173, Italy.
Genomics. 1997 Oct 15;45(2):443-6. doi: 10.1006/geno.1997.4945.
The Vgf gene was originally identified as a 2.7-kb cDNA fragment isolated from nerve growth factor-treated PC12 cells by differential display against PC12 cells. It is transcribed solely in subpopulations of neuroendocrine cells in vivo and it is induced by neurotrophins in target cells in vitro. The single-copy human VGF gene was isolated from a genomic library. The gene spans approximately 6 kb and contains two exons. The entire VGF protein is encoded by exon 2, while exon 1 contains only 5'-untranslated sequence. The structural organization of the human gene is similar to that described for the rat Vgf gene (S. R. J. Salton et al., 1991, Mol. Cell. Biol. 11: 2335-2349) and both the translated and the untranslated regions show a high degree of sequence homology to the rat gene. Northern blot analysis revealed a single transcript of approximately 2.7 kb that was detected only in mRNA preparations from brain. The gene was assigned to chromosome 7q22 by fluorescence in situ hybridization.
Vgf基因最初是通过差异显示技术，从经神经生长因子处理的PC12细胞中分离出的一个2.7 kb的cDNA片段，该技术以PC12细胞作为对照。在体内，它仅在神经内分泌细胞亚群中转录，在体外，它可被靶细胞中的神经营养因子诱导。从基因组文库中分离出了单拷贝的人类VGF基因。该基因跨度约6 kb，包含两个外显子。整个VGF蛋白由外显子2编码，而外显子1仅包含5'非翻译序列。人类基因的结构组织与大鼠Vgf基因（S. R. J. Salton等人，1991年，《分子与细胞生物学》11: 2335 - 2349）所描述的相似，其翻译区和非翻译区与大鼠基因均显示出高度的序列同源性。Northern印迹分析显示，仅在来自大脑的mRNA制剂中检测到一条约2.7 kb的单一转录本。通过荧光原位杂交技术，该基因被定位到7号染色体的7q22区域。
