title: Regulation of a novel alphaN-catenin splice variant in schizophrenic smokers.
abstract: The alphaN-catenin (CTNNA2) gene represents a promising candidate gene for schizophrenia based upon previous genetic linkage, expression, and mouse knockout studies. CTNNA2 is differentially regulated by smoking in schizophrenic patients. In this report, the genomic structure of a primate-specific alphaN-catenin splice variant (alphaN-catenin III) is described. A comparison of alphaN-catenin III mRNA expression across postmortem hippocampi from schizophrenic and non-mentally ill smokers and non-smokers revealed a significant decrease in expression among patient non-smokers compared to all other groups. The recent evolutionary divergence of this gene, as well as the differences in gene expression in postmortem brain of schizophrenic non-smokers, supports the role of alphaN-catenin III as a novel disease susceptibility gene.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Behavioral Genetics, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mexal
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pearce
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Logel
authors.forename: Catherine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Randal G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Freedman
authors.forename: Sherry
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leonard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017398:Alternative Splicing / Q000502:physiology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002889:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D017385:Sequence Homology; D012907:Smoking / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051178:alpha Catenin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C486820:Ctnna2 protein, mouse; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D051178:alpha Catenin