Unusual clustering of alu repeats within the 5'-flanking region of the human lysozyme gene

We report the nucleotide sequence of the 2.2-kb 5'-flanking region of the human lysozyme gene. Four Alu repeats are located within this upstream region. Classification and dating of these four Alu elements, as well as of the four Alu elements present within the human lysozyme structural gene, were performed. Transposition of the eight Alu repeats found in the human lysozyme locus has apparently occurred at four different times during the primate genome evolution. Considering that Alu repeats are interspersed throughout human DNA with an average spacing of 4 kb, the presence of eight such repeats within the 8-kb lysozyme gene region and, in particular, of four of them in the 2.2-kb region upstream of the structural gene, appears quite unusual.