Chromosomal location of the co-expressed human skeletal and cardiac actin genes.

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Abstract
The relationship between chromosomal location and regulation of the 2 human genes encoding the sarcomeric muscle actins was examined. The human genes encoding skeletal .alpha.-actin and cardiac .alpha.-actin are co-expressed in both human skeletal muscle and heart. A single-copy DNA fragment was subcloned from an intervening sequence in the human cardiac .alpha.-actin gene and a single-copy DNA sequence from the 3'' untranslated region of a human skeletal .alpha.-actin c[complementary]DNA. Using these 2 gene-specific probes, DNA isolated from human-mouse somatic cell hybrid lines segregating human chromosomes was examined. The segregation of restriction endonuclease-generated DNA cleavage fragments that hybridize to the 2 probes. The 2 striated muscle genes do not co-segregate and are on different autosomes. The human cardiac .alpha.-actin gene (ACTC) is on chromosome 15 in the q11 .fwdarw. qter region whereas the skeletal .alpha.-actin gene (ACTSK) is on chromosome 1 in the p21 .fwdarw. qter region. The co-expression of these 2 genes is not a function of chromosomal linkage. Neither of these muscles genes can be the primary target resulting in X-linked muscular dystrophies.