Laboratory for Physiological Chemistry, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
IGF-I gene expression in mammals typically results in multiple mRNA species ranging in size between 0.7 and 7.6 kb. The smaller mRNA species have largely been characterized by the analysis of nearly full-length cDNAs. This report describes the first complete sequence of the prominent high molecular weight (7.6 kb) IGF-I mRNA species. Isolation and nucleotide sequence analysis of cDNA clones from human adult liver and uterus leiomyoma cDNA libraries resulted in a 7236 bp long sequence followed by a poly(A) tail. The sequence data, in combination with structural analysis of the human IGF-I gene, show that the 7.6 kb human IGF-I mRNA contains 6611 bp of untranslated 3' terminal sequence derived from a single exon. Alternate employment of two polyadenylation signals within the sequence transcribed from this exon generates two mRNAs of 1.1 and 7.6 kb.