TheIL-4 andIL-5 genes are closely linked and are part of a cytokine gene cluster on mouse chromosome 11

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Abstract
The murine IL-4and IL-5genes encode hemopoietic growth factors involved in the stimulation, proliferation, and differentiation of cells of the T lymphocyte, B lymphocyte, and granulocyte lineages. We have mapped the Il-4 and Il-5 loci representing the structural genes for IL-4and IL-5,respectively, to mouse chromosome 11 using Chinese hamster ×mouse and rat × mouse somatic cell hybrids. Physical linkage studies of the IL-4and IL-5genes by pulsed field gel electrophoresis have shown that they are closely linked, being 110–180 kb apart. Since the Il-5 locus maps to the interface of bands A5 and B1 in the same location as the genes for IL-3and GM-CSF, this places these three cytokine genes, as well as the IL-4 gene, within a region of about 5000–10,000 kb. The present physical linkage studies indicate that the IL-4and IL-5genes are a minimum of 600 kb apart from the closely linked IL-3and GM-CSFgenes. The gene clustering, together with similarities in gene structure, regulation, and biological function, raises the possibility that the four genes may be part of a distantly related cytokine gene family.