title: Analysis of an SMN gene-like DNA fragment.
abstract: Part of a survival motor neuron (SMN) gene-like DNA fragment has been identified. This DNA fragment was accidentally isolated from cDNA by RT-PCR using primers specific for the region between exon 3 and 6 of the SMN gene. This fragment was used as a probe to hybridize the mRNA from several tissues, but we have been unable to detect any transcript of this SMN-like gene in these tissues. Thus, we have inferred this SMN gene-like fragment was a genomic product contaminant that was amplified in the reaction. Sequencing analysis of this fragment, which contains several stop codons, revealed a 74.6% nucleotide homology with the SMN gene. From these results, we believe that this DNA fragment is not a mutated form of SMN gene. Rather, it is an SMN-like pseudogene, which is variably present even in normal individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Jong
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Hsieh-Li
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009134:Muscular Atrophy, Spinal / Q000235:genetics*; D011544:Pseudogenes; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D004247:DNA