Deer antler tissue contains two types of bone morphogenetic protein 4 mRNA transcripts.
Previously we isolated a bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP-4) cDNA from human prostate cancer cells and found that the 5' noncoding exon 1 of this BMP-4 cDNA was different from that of human bone cell BMP-4 cDNA. Recently we identified two alternate exon 1s, 1A and 1B, for BMP-4 gene by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays from fetal rat calvarial osteoblasts. In order to further examine alternate exon 1 usage in the BMP-4 gene, we screened deer antler tissue cDNA library. We isolated two types of cDNA clones encoding BMP-4 from this deer antler cDNA library. Sequencing of these clones have revealed a single open reading frame encoding a 408 amino acid protein. Comparison of 5' noncoding exon 1 portion of these cDNA sequences with those of human bone and prostate BMP-4 cDNA sequences and mouse BMP-4 genomic DNA sequence demonstrated that deer antler tissue expresses both exon 1A and 1B containing BMP-4 mRNA transcripts. This suggests that BMP-4 gene may contain alternate promoters or alternate splicing sites in deer antler tissue.
Feng
J Q
JQ
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio 78284-7877, USA.
Chen
D
D
Esparza
J
J
Harris
M A
MA
Mundy
G R
GR
Harris
S E
SE
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000999:Antlers / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003670:Deer / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis*; D051381:Rats
D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D011506:Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger