Isolation, structural characterization, and chromosomal mapping of the mouse vascular adhesion protein-1 gene and promoter.

Vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) is an endothelial cell adhesion molecule which mediates lymphocyte binding to endothelial cells. The cloning of a mouse VAP-1 (mVAP-1) cDNA revealed that mVAP-1 is a novel 110/220 kDa transmembrane molecule with significant identity to copper-containing amine oxidases. In this work the nucleotide sequence and primary structure of the mVAP-1 gene was determined and the promoter region was structurally characterized. The isolated approximately 14.4-kb mVAP-1 gene consists of 4 exons and 3 introns. Primer extension analysis and 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends revealed multiple transcription initiation sites in different tissues suggesting that the mVAP-1 transcription is differently regulated in different tissues. Analysis of the sequence immediately upstream of the detected transcription initiation sites showed no canonical TATA or CCAAT elements, but putative regulatory elements were found close to the detected transcription start sites. The cloning of the mVAP-1 gene reveals the first insight into the genomic organization of murine amine oxidases and will, by targeted disruption of the gene, allow us to understand better the importance of VAP-1 in leukocyte trafficking and monoamine oxidase activity for the function of the immune system.