ISSN:
1471-4159
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Abstract: Both high and low molecular weight (HMW and LMW) T proteins are expressed in the immature and adult mouse spinal cord. Northern blot analysis, performed with probes complementary to domains common and uncommon to the LMW and HMW entities, suggested that HMW τ proteins found in the immature mouse spinal cord are not translated from the single transcript of 6 kb expressed at these stages, but are transported within this nervous structure by axons arising in the periphery. In contrast, another minor transcript of 8 kb was detected in the adult mouse spinal cord by a HMW τ specific probe, suggesting that a small fraction of the HMW τ forms present in adulthood are translated within mouse spinal cord neurons. LMW spinal cord T forms are encoded by mRNAs of 6 kb that contain three and four homologous repeats at immature and mature stages, respectively, whereas adult HMW entities contain four repeats. PCR analysis performed with mouse genomic DMA also showed that the nonhomologous region specific for HMW τ is a single exon. Southern blot and gene mapping showed that the same gene, located on the murine chromosome 11, encodes all the LMW and HMW τ variants. All these τ forms, therefore, are produced by an alternative splicing mechanism that is neuron-specific and developmentally regulated.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-4159.1993.tb03622.x
