Cloning of mouse DAN cDNA and its down-regulation in transformed cells

Recently, we have demonstrated that DAN gene product exhibits a tumor-suppressive activity in vitro. We report here the cloning and sequencing of a mouse DAN cDNA that contains the entire coding region. Sequence analysis revealed that mouse DAN cDNA is 1691 nucleotides in length and contains an open reading frame of 178 amino acids. The deduced mouse DAN protein sequence shows 96% and 93% identity with the counterparts isolated from rat 3Y1 fibroblasts and normal human lung, respectively. Genomic Southern blot hybridization indicated that DAN gene exists as a single copy in the mouse genome. The expression of DAN gene was suppressed in a variety of transformed NIH3T3 cells when compared with that in the parental NIH3T3 cells.