High impact information on FHIT

• FHIT, the tumor suppressor gene at 3p14.2, encodes a protein of 147 amino acids (16.8 kd) with diadenosine triphosphate hydrolase activity and is a common target of deletions in human cancers of epithelial origin [1].
• Comparative genomic mapping of the bovine Fragile Histidine Triad (FHIT) tumour suppressor gene: characterization of a 2 Mb BAC contig covering the locus, complete annotation of the gene, analysis of cDNA and of physiological expression profiles [2].
• VISTA global alignments between bovine genomic contigs retrieved from the bovine genome database and the human FHIT region were performed [2].
• Conservation was extremely high over a 2 Mb region spanning the whole FHIT locus, including the size of introns [2].
• FHIT is split in ten exons like in man, with exons 5 to 9 coding for a 149 amino acids protein [2].

Biological context of FHIT

• The detailed knowledge of the genomic FHIT region will allow to study the role of FHIT in bovine cancerogenesis, especially of vesical papillomavirus-associated cancers of the urinary bladder, and will be the basis to define the molecular structure of the bovine homologue of FRA3B, the major common fragile site of the human genome [2].

References