Korean J Physiol Pharmacol.  1999 Oct;3(5):501-505.

Two dinucleotide repeat polymorphisms (AC/TG and GT/CA) in the 5' upstream region of the mouse tryptophan hydroxylase gene

• Yim SV
• Chi SG
• Chung SH
• Lee HJ
• Kim MJ
• Park SJ
• Jung JC
• Chung JH

Abstract

Tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH), the rate-limiting enzyme in serotonin biosynthesis, is primarily expressed in serotonergic neurons of the raphe nuclei. Simple tandem repeat polymorphisms, typically one to four nucleotides long, are tandemly repeated several times and often characterized by many alleles. To identify the presence of polymorphic repeats, we sequenced the 5'-upstream region of the mouse TPH gene. For the detection of any allelic variants, polymerase chain reaction, nonisotopic single-strand conformation polymophism, and DNA sequencing analyses of the tandem repeat sequences were performed using genomic DNA extracted from 60 ICR mice. Two dinucleotide repeats, 5'-(AC/TG)22-3' and 5'-(GT/CA)17-3', were identified at approximately -5.7 kb and -3.4 kb upstream from the transcriptional initiation site of the mouse TPH gene, respectively. Minor allelic variants, 5'-(AC/TG)21-3' and 5'-(GT/CA)18-3', were observed in heterozygous pairs from 3 of 60 and 1 of 60 ICR mice, respectively. The identification of these microsatellites in the mouse TPH promoter raises the possibility that identical and/or other polymorphic sequences might exist in the upstream region of the human TPH gene.

MeSH Terms

Alleles
Animals
Dinucleotide Repeats*
DNA
Humans
Mice*
Mice, Inbred ICR
Microsatellite Repeats
Nucleotides
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Raphe Nuclei
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Serotonergic Neurons
Serotonin
Tandem Repeat Sequences
Tryptophan Hydroxylase*
Tryptophan*
DNA
Nucleotides
Serotonin
Tryptophan
Tryptophan Hydroxylase