title: Cloning and Characterization of the Rat Gene Encoding GAP-43.
abstract: GAP-43 is a gene expressed only in the nervous system. The protein product is believed to be important to neuronal growth and plasticity. Most, and likely all, neurons express high levels of GAP-43 during periods of neurite elongation. To initiate studies of GAP-43 gene regulation we have cloned the rat gene encoding GAP-43. The GAP-43 gene includes three exons. The first exon encodes only the amino terminal 10 amino acids, which corresponds to the membrane targeting domain of GAP-43. The second exon encodes a putative calmodulin binding domain and a protein kinase C phosphorylation site. The 5'-flanking sequence is unusual in that it lacks CAAT or TATA elements, and directs RNA transcription initiation from several sites. Some of the transcription start sites are used to a different degree in the central and peripheral nervous systems.
authors.affiliation: Developmental Biology Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Ed
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grabczyk
authors.forename: Mauricio X.
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Zuber
authors.forename: Howard J.
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Federoff
authors.forename: Shi-Chung
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pack
authors.forename: Mark C.
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Fishman