Isolation of novel human genomic DNA clones related to human interferon-beta 1 cDNA.

Southern blot-hybridization analyses of human DNA (from Namalwa lymphoblastoid cells) digested with the restriction endonuclease EcoRI were carried out under optimal conditions with two human fibroblast interferon (IFN-beta 1) cDNA probes, pD19 and pD24, which contain IFN-beta 1 inserts 0.8 and 0.7 kilobase (kb) long, respectively. The analyses revealed the presence of several hybridizable DNA fragments, including two of lengths 6.8 and 5.5 kb, in addition to the classical IFN-beta 1 genomic DNA fragment of length approximately equal to 2.0 kb. We have screened a human DNA library in lambda bacteriophage Charon 4A by using a 32P-labeled IFN-beta 1 insert cDNA (pD24) and thereby isolated six strongly positive human genomic DNA clones. One of these (lambda B37) represents the classical human IFN-beta 1 gene; another (lambda B37) contains a 6.8-kb EcoRI DNA fragment(s) which cross-hybridizes with the IFN-beta 1 cDNA insert probes pD19 and pD24; and the remaining four (which are identical to each other and are exemplified by lambda B4) contain two EcoRI DNA fragments approximately 5.5 and 9 kb long which also cross-hybridize the IFN-beta 1 cDNA probes. A mRNA 0.9 kb long derived from the classical IFN-beta1 gene is expressed in poly(I) . poly(C)-induced human diploid fibroblasts (FS-4 strain). Induced FS-4 cells also contain polyadenylylated RNA 1.8, 3, 5, and approximately equal to 8 kb long derived from the lambda B3 gene, all of which appear to code for biologically active human IFN-beta as tested by using the Xenopus laevis oocyte translation assay. These data strongly indicate that lambda B3 represents a novel functional IFN-beta gene. A 12-kb polyadenylylated RNA, derived from lambda B4, is expressed constitutively at a low level in FS-4 cells, but the amount of this RNA increases 5-7 hr after exposure of the cells to poly(I) . poly(C).