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Exon 2 of human cathepsin B derives from an Alu element
Author(s) -
Berquin Isabelle M,
Ahram Mamoun,
Sloane Bonnie F
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(97)01445-2
Subject(s) - alu element , exon , microbiology and biotechnology , cathepsin e , cathepsin o , cathepsin b , cathepsin a , cathepsin h , untranslated region , biology , trans splicing , cathepsin l1 , three prime untranslated region , messenger rna , gene , genetics , rna , rna splicing , human genome , biochemistry , genome , enzyme
Transcripts for the cysteine protease cathepsin B are alternatively spliced in the untranslated regions (UTRs). We show that a cathepsin B probe containing 5′‐UTR sequences hybridized to an RNA of ∼300 nt in addition to the typical 2.2 and 4.0 kbp mRNAs. Within this 5′‐UTR, exon 2 was found to be homologous to Alu repetitive elements. Specifically, exon 2 was part of an Alu element interspersed with the cathepsin B gene. The ∼300 nt band that hybridized to our cathepsin B probe likely corresponds to Alu transcripts, which are known to accumulate in human cells. Indeed, a similarly migrating band was detected with an authentic Alu probe. Thus, we suggest that primary transcripts for cathepsin B contain Alu sequences which are preserved as exon 2 in some fully spliced mRNAs.