HIGHLY CONSERVED SEQUENCES IN THE 3'-UNTRANSLATED REGION OF THE COL1A1 GENE BIND CELL-SPECIFIC NUCLEAR PROTEINS

Sequencing of the 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR) of the human COL1A1 gene revealed numerous putative regulatory motifs and two highly conserved regions flanking the two polyadenylation sites. The conserved regions were separated by about 700 bp of less conserved sequences. The first region consists of almost all the 3'-UTR of the shorter (4.8 kbp) COL1A1 transcript. The second conserved domain includes a motif shared with several collagen genes. Both conserved domains bind cell-specific nuclear proteins suggesting that the 3'-UTR is important for cell specific expression of the COL1A1 gene.