MOLECULAR-CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE GENE ENCODING THE MURINE D-4 DOPAMINE-RECEPTOR

The murine D-4 dopamine receptor was isolated from a murine genomic DN A library, The receptor's entire coding region was contained within a 6 kb EcoRI genomic fragment, indicating that the murine D-4 receptor g ene is significantly smaller than the corresponding D-2 and D-3 recept or genes, the coding regions of which each stretch over 30 kb. The mur ine D-4 receptor gene has three introns and four exons, in common with the rat and human D-4 receptor genes. RT-PCR on mRNA from different b rain regions shows that the D-4 receptor mRNA is expressed in various areas of the brain, with some differences from the rat and human recep tor homologues.