Cloning and characterization of the choline acetyltransferase structural gene (cha-1) from C. elegans

We have cloned the cha-1 gene from Caenorhabditis elegans using the method of transposon tagging, cha-1 is the structural gene for ChAT, the enzyme that synthesizes ACh. Sequence analysis of cDNAs predicts a protein of 71.5 kDa; comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence with ChAT sequences from other species confirms that cha-1 encodes ChAT. Comparison of cDNA and genomic sequences reveals that transcription is from right to left on the genetic map, and that some of the transcripts may result from trans-splicing of the 22-base spliced leader SL 1. The cha-1 gene is organized into 11 exons. The first exon contains only untranslated sequences, and is followed by an extremely long intron. The coding sequence of the cha-1 transcript is disrupted by mutations in the cha-1 gene. We have determined the sites of four transposon insertions and the end-points of two deletions that lead to the cha-1 mutant phenotype; one of the deletions appears to eliminate gene function completely. Comparison of the Drosophila, rat, and C. elegans genes reveals conserved motifs and conserved intron sites.