Figure 3

The βCstF-64 family of splice variants is evolutionarily conserved in vertebrates. A) RT-PCR analysis of human and turtle CstF-64 mRNAs. Human brain, liver, and testis RNAs were subjected to RT-PCR using primers flanking exons 8 and 9 of the human CstF-64 gene (lanes 1–6). RNA isolated from brain and liver of adult turtle was subjected to RT-PCR analysis using primers flanking exons 8 and 9 of the turtle CstF-64 gene (lanes 7–10). RT-PCR with no reverse transcriptase (-RT) is shown in lanes 4–6 (left panel) and lanes 9, 10 (right panel). B) Alternative splicing patterns of CstF-64 in various animal species. The splicing pattern of CstF-64 is shown on top. The distributions of the βCstF-64 variant mRNAs in different animal species is as follows: βCstF-64, variant 1: Mus musculus; βCstF-64, variant 2: chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), bovine (Bos taurus), dog (Canis familiaris), thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus), gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica), African clawed toad (Xenopus laevis), duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), zebrafish (Danio rerio), and pufferfish (Tetraodon nigroviridis); βCstF-64, variant 3: Algerian mouse (Mus spretus), rat (Rattus norvegicus), human (Homo sapiens), pig (Sus scrofa domestica); βCstF-64, variant 4: mouse (Mus musculus). The splicing patterns of βCstF-64 mRNA in mice (Mus musculus and Mus spretus), rat, human, ground squirrel, short-tailed opossum, alligator, and turtle were determined from cloning and sequencing of RT-PCR products. The splicing patterns for chimpanzee, bovine, dog, toad, platypus, zebrafish, and pufferfish were obtained by searches of EST and protein databases utilizing BLASTX and BLASTP programs (not shown).