Department of Medical Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
We have reported the characterization of a cDNA (clone 31A) encoding bovine alpha 1,3-galactosyltransferase (alpha 1,3-GT) (Joziasse, D. H., Shaper, J. H., Van den Eijnden, D. H., Van Tunen, A. J., and Shaper, N. L. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 14290-14297). With the goal of isolating a full-length cDNA encoding murine alpha 1,3-GT we screened a cDNA library with clone 31A and isolated a 3.4-kilobase (kb) alpha 1,3-GT clone (4A). The murine coding sequence is 78% similar to that of the bovine alpha 1,3-GT cDNA, but the "stem" region (defined as the region that links the single transmembrane domain to the catalytic domain) of the murine alpha 1,3-GT encoded by clone 4A, is 31 amino acids shorter than the corresponding region of the bovine alpha 1,3-GT. To screen for heterogeneity in the murine alpha 1,3-GT transcripts, we carried out a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis on mouse C127 cDNA. Four distinct transcripts were detected, which predict four isoforms of the alpha 1,3-GT polypeptide that differ only in the length of their stem region. To determine how the four different transcripts are generated from a single gene, we have established the genomic organization for murine alpha 1,3-GT. The full-length mRNA spans at least 35 kb of genomic DNA and is distributed over nine exons that range in size from 36 base pairs (bp) to approximately 2600 bp. The protein coding region is distributed over six exons, and the 5'-untranslated sequence is distributed over three exons. Comparison of the genomic DNA sequence with that of the four different mRNAs indicates that these transcripts are produced by alternative splicing of the murine pre-mRNA according to a cassette model. A tissue survey using RNA-PCR revealed the presence of four different alpha 1,3-GT transcripts in all mouse tissues and cell lines examined to date, with the notable exception of male germ cells. Additionally, although alpha 1,3-GT levels increased upon thioglycollate-induced activation of mouse peritoneal macrophages, the ratio of the alpha 1,3-GT isoforms was essentially unchanged. Similar results were obtained upon retinoic acid-induced differentiation of murine F9 teratocarcinoma cells. Lastly, a similar PCR analysis of bovine cDNA produced only a single DNA fragment, corresponding to bovine cDNA clone 31A.