The human serum amyloid a locus SAA4 is a pseudogene

We have isolated the human genomic DNA close GSAA4 from a size-selected Bgl II library by hybridization to a probe derived from the human serum amyloid A gene GSAA1. Sequencing the 5′ end of this clone revealed a region similar to the first exon of gene GSAA1 but with significant nucleotide differences and mutation of the 3′ splice site. The restriction map of the GSAA4 clone corresponds to that for the locus "SAA4" recently reported by others. Sequence and hybridization details indicate that the locus in clone GSAA4 is a member of the human serum amyloid A gene family and contains a pseudogene. Isolating GSAA4 completes the collection of clones needed to account for all bands found in blot hybridizations of human DNA using serum amyloid A gene probes.