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Large tracts of the human genome, known as gene deserts, are devoid of protein-coding genes. Dichotomy in their level of conservation with chicken separates these regions into two distinct categories, stable and variable. The separation is not caused by differences in rates of neutral evolution but instead appears to be related to different biological functions of stable and variable gene deserts in the human genome. Gene Ontology categories of the adjacent genes are strongly biased toward transcriptional regulation and development for the stable gene deserts, and toward distinctively different functions for the variable gene deserts. Stable gene deserts resist chromosomal rearrangements and appear to harbor multiple distant regulatory elements physically linked to their neighboring genes, with the linearity of conservation invariant throughout vertebrate evolution.

Chromosome 19 has the highest gene density of all human chromosomes, more than double the genome-wide average. The large clustered gene families, corresponding high G + C content, CpG islands and density of repetitive DNA indicate a chromosome rich in biological and evolutionary significance. Here we describe 55.8 million base pairs of highly accurate finished sequence representing 99.9% of the euchromatin portion of the chromosome. Manual curation of gene loci reveals 1,461 protein-coding genes and 321 pseudogenes. Among these are genes directly implicated in mendelian disorders, including familial hypercholesterolaemia and insulin-resistant diabetes. Nearly one-quarter of these genes belong to tandemly arranged families, encompassing more than 25% of the chromosome. Comparative analyses show a fascinating picture of conservation and divergence, revealing large blocks of gene orthology with rodents, scattered regions with more recent gene family expansions and deletions, and segments of coding and non-coding conservation with the distant fish species Takifugu.

RFX transcription factors constitute a highly conserved family of site-specific DNA binding proteins involved in the expression of a variety of cellular and viral genes, including major histocompatibility complex class II genes and genes in human hepatitis B virus. Five members of the RFX gene family have been isolated from human and mouse, and all share a highly characteristic DNA binding domain that is distinct from other known DNA binding motifs. The human RFX1 and RFX2 genes have been assigned by in situ hybridization to chromosome 19p13.1 and 19p13.3, respectively. In this paper, we present data that localize RFX1 and RFX2 precisely within the detailed physical map of human chromosome 19 and genetic data that assign Rfx1 and Rfx2 to homologous regions of mouse chromosomes 8 and 17, respectively. These data define the established relationships between these homologous mouse and human regions in further detail and provide new tools for linking cloned genes to phenotypes in both species.

Using an interspecies backcross, we have mapped the HOX-5 and surfeit (surf) gene clusters within the proximal portion of mouse chromosome 2. While the HOX-5 cluster of homeobox-containing genes has been localized to chromosome 2, bands C3-E1, by in situ hybridization, its more precise position relative to the genes and cloned markers of chromosome 2 was not known. Surfeit, a tight cluster of at least six highly conserved "housekeeping" genes, has not been previously mapped in mouse, but has been localized to human chromosome 9q, a region of the human genome with strong homology to proximal mouse chromosome 2. The data presented here place HOX-5 in the vicinity of the closely linked set of developmental mutations rachiterata, lethargic, and fidget and place surf close to the proto-oncogene Abl, near the centromere of chromosome 2.

We have used an approach based on the observation of CpG-rich regions near the 5' end of many genes to screen a panel of cosmids derived from the t-complex and tested candidate sequences for evidence of transcription in a number of different mouse tissues. One gene so identified is expressed specifically in testicular germ cells and maps to a subregion of the t-complex also containing loci involved in transmission ratio distortion and male sterility. The transcript is first detected during the pachytene stage of the first meiotic division, but is expressed in highest levels in the later haploid spermatogenic stages. Sequence analysis verified the existence of a CpG-rich element on the 5' end of the gene and predicts a unique protein species with no significant homologies to those previously determined.

Describes a study on Krüppel-associated box-Krüppel-type zinc finger (KK) protein divergence and the evolution of vertebrate regulatory networks. Information on zinc-finger structure and DNA binding; Comparison between KK gene and cluster structure in different rodents; Known regulatory targets of Krüppel-type zinc finger proteins transcription factor proteins.