title: Molecular cloning of ssd-form neural cell adhesion molecules (N-CAMs) as the major form in Xenopus heart.
abstract: Different forms of neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) are generated by alternative splicing of primary transcripts and considered to have distinct biological functions. We cloned cDNAs encoding a new form of N-CAMs from the Xenopus heart cDNA library. Comparison of the sequences with chicken and mouse N-CAMs revealed that these clones code for ssd-form N-CAM. We demonstrate by Northern blot analysis that the ssd form is the major form expressed in the Xenopus adult heart. We obtained two types of ssd-form N-CAM, which are transcripts from N-CAM 1 and N-CAM 2 genes. Both types contain muscle specific domain (MSD) but not pi domain. Northern blot analysis also indicated that this form is not expressed in adult brain, in which ld-form N-CAM is the main N-CAM expressed. It is possible that high levels of specific expression of ssd-form N-CAM are related with the differentiation of cardiac muscles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, 113, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kudo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Takayama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tadakuma
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shiokawa
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D019556:COS Cells; D002645:Chickens; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005123:Eye / Q000737:chemistry; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009206:Myocardium / Q000737:chemistry*; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014981:Xenopus
chemical_list: D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols; D012333:RNA, Messenger