A novel human serine-threonine phosphatase related to the Drosophila retinal degeneration C (rdgC) gene is selectively expressed in sensory neurons of neural crest origin.
Through our transcriptional mapping effort in the Xp22 region, we have isolated by exon trapping a new transcript highly homologous to the Drosophila retinal degeneration C (rdgC) gene. rdgC encodes a serine/threonine phosphatase protein and is required in Drosophila to prevent light-induced retinal degeneration. This human gene is the first mammalian member of the serine-threonine phosphatase with EF hand motif gene family, and was thus named PPEF (Protein Phosphatase with EF calcium-binding domain). The expression pattern of the mouse Ppef gene was studied by RNA in situ hybridization on embryonic tissue sections. While rdgC is expressed in the visual system of the fly, as well as in the mushroom bodies of the central brain, we found that Ppef is highly expressed in sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and neural crest-derived cranial ganglia. The selective pattern of expression makes PPEF an important marker for sensory neuron differentiation and suggests a role for serine-threonine phosphatases in mammalian development.
Montini
E
E
Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), San Raffaele Biomedical Science Park, Milan, Italy.
Rugarli
E I
EI
Van de Vosse
E
E
Andolfi
G
G
Mariani
M
M
Puca
A A
AA
Consalez
G G
GG
den Dunnen
J T
JT
Ballabio
A
A
Franco
B
B
D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003391:Cranial Nerves / Q000502:physiology; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000502:physiology; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization / Q000379:methods; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000502:physiology*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000201:enzymology*; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D012313:RNA; D012162:Retinal Degeneration / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D012313:RNA; C491500:Ppef1 protein, mouse; C107424:PPEF1 protein, human; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases; C074643:rdgC protein, Drosophila