Structural analysis of the rabbit TNF locus, containing the genes encoding TNF-beta (lymphotoxin) and TNF-alpha (tumor necrosis factor).

The genes coding for 20-kDa lymphotoxin (TNF-beta) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) have been cloned from a rabbit genomic library. The two genes are tandemly arranged and separated by only 1 kb of DNA, as previously observed in human and mouse genomes. We have sequenced the entire rabbit lymphotoxin-encoding gene and inferred the primary structure of rabbit TNF-beta, whose cDNA is not yet cloned. We also analysed the upstream sequences of the rabbit TNF-beta and TNF-alpha genes and identified a number of potential binding sites for known nuclear transcription factors, and in particular several putative kappa B-type sequences.