β-Globin transcript found in induced murine erythroleukemia cells is homologous to the βho and βhl genes

RNA transcripts complementary to at least one of the four β-globin homologous genes (βh) are found in high concentration in the murine erythroleukemic (MEL) cell line GM979 after butyric acid induction. Hybridization data indicate that the gene expressed is Hbb-βhO or Hbb-βh1, or both. The level of βhO/1 transcripts in the MEL cell is similar to the level of adult transcripts. The Hbb-βhO/1 transcript is about 800 nucleotides in length. In addition, there is a larger βhO/1 transcript of the same size and relative intensity as the adult β-globin precursor. We also report significant levels of embryonic gene Hbb-y transcripts in induced GM979 cells. We have determined that the GM979 cell line has the [Hbb](s) haplotype on the basis of an examination of its globin DNA restriction pattern. An additional MEL cell line of haplotype [Hbb](d) (DBA/2 line 6A11A) was examined and found to contain no significant level of Hbb-βhO, Hbb-βh1, Hbb-βh2, or Hbb-y gene transcripts.