Cell Cycle Regulated Expression of Subcloned Chicken H3 Histone Genes and Their 5' Flanking Sequences

We subcloned two chicken H3 histone genes and transfected them into Rat 3 cell line. One contains 300 bp 5' to its cap site and the other contains 130 bp 5' to its cap site when cloned into plasm ids. Both of them showed 5' phase specific expression of their mRNA about 8 fold higher (during 5' phase) than during Gl phase. This means that only 130 bp 5' to its cap site was enough to confer cell cycle regulated expression of the latter gene. The DNA sequences of their 5' flanking region did not reveal any particular homologies or subtype-specific sequences. The DNA sequence data also showed that even though the protein coding regions of the histone genes have been conserved exceptionally well throughout evolution, their 5' untranslated regions have not been conserved as well.