Identification of a functional allele of a human interferon-alpha gene previously characterized as a pseudogene.

Department of Biochemistry, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38101-0318.

Three recombinant phage lambda L47 clones containing 4 alpha interferon (IFN) genes have been isolated from a newly constructed human genomic library. Each gene is an allele of a previously described IFN gene, three being only minor variants. The fourth gene SMTIII.1A is a functional allele of the psi LeIF-L gene which previously has been described only as a pseudogene. Therefore, it appears likely that other variant alleles may remain to be described and that the IFN system may be able to tolerate some degeneracy as a consequence of the large number of members of the family.

PMID: 2526839 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]