Elsevier

Genomics

Volume 23, Issue 3, October 1994, Pages 528-533
Genomics

Regular Article
Mapping of the β2 Subunit Gene (GABRB2) to Microdissected Human Chromosome 5q34-q35 Defines a Gene Cluster for the Most Abundant GABAA Receptor Isoform

https://doi.org/10.1006/geno.1994.1539Get rights and content
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Abstract

The γ-aminobutyric acid receptor (GABAAR) is a multisubunit C1 channel that mediates most fast inhibitory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system. Molecular evolution has given rise to many genetic variants of GABAAR subunits, including α1-6, β1-4, γ1-4, δ, and ρ1-2, suggesting that an enormous number of combinations of subunits are possible. Here we report that the β2 gene is located on chromosome 5q34-q35, defining a cluster comprising α1 β2, and γ2 genes that together code for the most abundant GABAAR isoform. The fact that intron position is conserved in the β1-1 genes, taken together with the observation that chromosomes 4 and 15 also contain distinct α-β-γ gene clusters, strongly suggests that an ancestral α-β-γ cluster was duplicated and translocated to at least two different chromosomes. This organization of GABAAR gene clusters may have been preserved as linkage provides a mechanism for facilitating coordinate gene expression.

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