THE ORGANIZATION OF THE BETA-GLOBIN GENE OF THE BIVALVE MOLLUSK ANADARA-TRAPEZIA AND ITS EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER INVERTEBRATE AND VERTEBRATE GLOBIN GENES

Three pairs of oligonucleotide primers based on partial DNA and amino acid sequences were used in a combination of PCR experiments to amplify the beta-globin gene of the bivalve mollusc Anadara trapezia. The sequence of 2,139 bp presented contains the whole of the beta-globin gene with the exception of the 5' flanking sequence. This gene possesses the three-exon-and-two-intron gene structure typical of vertebrate globin genes but the lengths of the introns (762 bp and 690 bp, respectively) are only approximately half the size of those present in a beta-variant gene previously characterized from this organism. The encoded amino acid sequence shows two changes when compared to the previously published amino acid sequence.