Complete genomic structure of the CLCN6 and CLCN7 putative chloride channel genes

The CLC family of voltage-gated chloride channels comprises nine members in mammals. CLCN6 and CLCN7 belong to a novel, poorly characterized subbranch of this family. We investigated the genomic organization of the human CLCN6 gene, as well as the murine CLCN6 and CLCN7 genes. The human and murine CLCN6 genes both consist of 23 exons and share a nearly identical genomic structure. The coding region of mouse CLCN7 is composed of 25 exons. Comparison of the genomic organization of CLCN6 and CLCN7 genes shows that just eight introns are located at corresponding cDNA positions. Moreover, no significant gene structure homology to other members of the CLC family could be detected indicating a great structural diversity of mammalian CLC genes.