title: Rat protein kinase c zeta gene contains alternative promoters for generation of dual transcripts with 5'-end heterogeneity.
abstract: Protein kinase C (PKC) zeta is a phospholipid-dependent serine/threonine kinase that appears to perform important cell signaling functions. Two forms of PKC zeta RNA, with different 5' ends, have been reported. The major form (zeta) is expressed in most, if not all tissues, while the minor form (zeta'), which encodes the catalytic domain of the enzyme without most of its regulatory domain, is predominant in normal brain and certain rat prostate tumors. We report here the structure of the 5' end of the rat PKC zeta gene, demonstrating that both forms of RNA can be transcribed from the same gene through the use of alternative promoters and splicing. In luciferase reporter constructs, progressive deletions of the PKC zeta and zeta' 5' flanking sequences yielded activities that were higher in the cell lines expressing endogenous PKC zeta and zeta' RNAs, respectively. Also, multiple PCRs across different introns of the PKC zeta gene indicate that recent duplication of the gene or the existence of a closely related pseudogene in the rat genome are unlikely.
authors.affiliation: Urologic Oncology Research Laboratory and George M. O'Brien Urology Research Center for Prostate Cancer, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Powell
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D020131:Genes, Duplicate / Q000235:genetics; D017930:Genes, Reporter / Q000235:genetics; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D023282:Nuclease Protection Assays; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D011544:Pseudogenes / Q000235:genetics; D022821:RNA Splice Sites / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020218:Response Elements / Q000235:genetics; D017384:Sequence Deletion / Q000235:genetics; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D000099221:Protein Kinase C zeta
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D017931:DNA Primers; D011493:Protein Kinase C; D022821:RNA Splice Sites; D000099221:Protein Kinase C zeta