Complement Receptor 1 - Forms

Forms

The most common form of the CR1 gene (CR1*1) is composed of 38 exons spanning 133kb encoding a protein of 2039 amino acids and has a predicted molecular weight of 220 kDa. Large insertions and deletions have given rise to four structurally variant genes and some alleles may extend up to 160 kb and 9 additional exons. The transcription start site has been mapped to 111 bp upstream of the translation initiation codon ATG and there is another possible start site 29 bp further upstream. The promoter region lacks a distinct TATA box sequence. The gene is expressed principally on erythrocytes, monocytes, neutrophils and B cells but is also present on some T lymphocytes, mast cells and glomerular podocytes.

The mean number of complement receptor 1 (CR1) molecules on erythrocytes in normal individuals lies within the range of 100-1000 molecules per cell. Two codominant alleles exist - one controlling high and the other low expression. Homozygotes differ by a factor of 10-20: heterozygotes typically have 500-600 copies per erythrocyte. These two alleles appear to have originated before the divergence of the European and African populations.