A probable novel splicing isoform of human vascular endothelial growth factor.
OBJECTIVE
To characterize a new alternative splicing isoform of human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene.


METHODS
The total RNA was extracted from the lung tissue of a legally aborted 4-month-old fetus and amplified by RT-PCR. The amplified product was cloned into the plasmid pMD18-T and plasmid pcDNA3.1- for sequence analysis.


RESULTS
Electrophoresis of the RT-PCR products displayed one short band for VEGF(121) (487 bp) and a long band. The latter was characterized to contain two fragments: one was normal VEGF(165) (619 bp), and the other (639 bp) had an identical nucleotide sequence to VEGF(165) with a 20 bp fragment inserted between exons 3 and 4. Sequence analysis showed that this 20-bp nucleotide was inserted from the 3' end of the third intron containing a splicing signal, thus causing shift mutation in the reading frame of VEGF gene and early appearance of the stop codon UAG in the middle of exon 4.


CONCLUSIONS
A new alternative splicing isoform of VEGF probably exists in the lung tissue of a legally aborted human fetus, and its biological significance remains to be further investigated.
Department of Cardiology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. zhouzhongjiang@126.com
Zhongjiang
Z
Zhou
Haiyan
H
Ye
Kai
K
Cui
Xianghui
X
Chen
Yili
Y
Liu
D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005091:Exons; D016368:Frameshift Mutation; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*
D020033:Protein Isoforms; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A