GDNF - EXISTENCE OF A 2ND TRANSCRIPT IN THE BRAIN

The detection of the glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF ) mRNA by RT-PCR in dissociated cell culture of rat embryonic or post- natal brain allowed the amplification of a doublet. The major band cor responded to the expected size and the minor one to a shorter product. We cloned and sequenced the latter product, and thus identified a mRN A potentially encoding for an isoform of the initially described precu rsor protein involved in GDNF synthesis.