Chromosomal localisation of the human P2y6 purinoceptor gene and phylogenetic analysis of the P2y purinoceptor family

Abstract

The G-protein-coupled P2Y purinoceptors mediate a variety of physiological effects in response to extracellular nucleotides. With the recent discovery of several new members from a variety of species, the P2Y purinoceptor family now encompasses types P2Y1to P2Y8. By fluorescencein situhybridization and utilization of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database, the human P2Y6gene was localized to chromosome 11q13.5, between polymorphic markers D11S1314 and D11S916. NCBI database analysis of the remaining human P2Y purinoceptor genes revealed that P2Y2and P2Y6mapped to within less than 4 cM, and thus constitute the first described chromosomal clustering of this gene family. Phylogenetic analysis of the P2Y purinoceptor family demonstrated the presence of five evolutionary branches and suggests the occurrence of an ancient gene duplication event.