Interferons as gene activators: close linkage of two interferon-activatable murine genes.

Previously we have identified a mouse genomic clone (clone 5) which specifies the 5' flanking region and the 5' terminal exon of an interferon-activatable gene (202 gene). Here, we show that about 5 kb upstream from this flanking region in clone 5 there occurs a 3' terminal region of a second interferon-activatable gene (203 gene). The two genes are transcribed in the same direction. Segments from the 203 gene can be hybridized to a set of five interferon-inducible RNAs. The 203 mRNAs are induced about 15-fold in interferon-treated Ehrlich ascites tumor cells.