THE GENOMIC ORGANIZATION AND DNA-SEQUENCE OF THE MOUSE VAS-DEFERENS ANDROGEN-REGULATED PROTEIN GENE

The gene for mouse vas deferens protein (MVDP) is expressed, under androgenic control, exclusively in the epithelial cells of the deferent duct. As a first step in correlating cell-specific and hormonal regulations with the structure of the gene, the complete sequence of the MVDP gene (11 kb) and 0.5 kb of the 5' flanking region have been determined. The size range for the 10 exons is 78 to 168 bp, whereas that of introns is 292 to 2833 bp. A major site of transcription is located on an A residue 46 nucleotides upstream from the A of the ATG initiation codon. A TATA (CATAA) box, a CAAT box, a GC-rich motif and a (5'-TGTTCT-3') element that closely resembles the consensus sequence of the androgen response elements are present in the 5' flanking region of the MVDP gene.