Comparison of human and chimpanzee ξ1 blobin genes

The DNA base sequences of the entire chimpanzee ξ1 globin gene and an additional 1 kb of DNA flanking both the human and chimpanzee genes have been determined. Whereas the human ξ1 gene contains a termination codon in the sixth position, the chimpanzee gene appears to be functional. This finding confirms Proudfoot et al.'s suggestion that the human ξ1 gene was recently inactivated. Like the corresponding human ξ1 and ξ2 genes, the first and second introns of the chimpanzee ξ1 gene are occupied largely by tandem repeats of short oligonucleotides. These tandem repeats have undergone several rearrangements since the divergence of the human and chimpanzee ξ1 genes.