Infidelity in the structure of ectopic transcripts: a novel exon in lymphocyte dystrophin transcripts.
Ectopic (or "illegitimate") transcripts have recently become popular as a means of facilitating the study of transcripts normally considered to have a pattern of expression restricted to one or a few tissues. It has been generally assumed that the structure of an ectopic transcript faithfully represents that of its tissue-specific counterpart. We describe here the inclusion of a novel exon in 50% of ectopic dystrophin transcripts from human peripheral blood lymphocytes. The novel sequence resembles a conserved region in the 3' untranslated region of members of the carcinoembryonic antigen gene family and lies within the first intron of the human dystrophin gene. This constitutes a significant departure from the expected in vivo splicing behaviour in an ectopic transcript and suggests that there may be exceptions to the assumption that ectopic transcripts are processed in a similar way to their tissue-specific counterparts.
Roberts
R G
RG
Paediatric Research Unit, Guy's Hospital, London, England.
Bentley
D R
DR
Bobrow
M
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D004247:DNA; D016189:Dystrophin / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D005091:Exons; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009136:Muscular Dystrophies / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D016189:Dystrophin; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D004247:DNA