Da. Siever et Mf. Verderame, IDENTIFICATION OF A COMPLETE CEK7 RECEPTOR PROTEIN-TYROSINE KINASE CODING SEQUENCE AND CDNAS OF ALTERNATIVELY SPLICED TRANSCRIPTS, Gene, 148(2), 1994, pp. 219-226
Receptor protein tyrosine kinases (RPTK) are critical components of si
gnal transduction pathways in multicellular organisms. Identification
of new RPTK constitutes an initial step in understanding the variety o
f signalling pathways in which these proteins participate. In this stu
dy, a cDNA containing a complete coding sequence for Cek7 (chicken RPT
K) has been cloned from a chicken embryo expression library using anti
-phosphotyrosine antibodies (Ab). Cek7 is a member of the EPH (human R
PTK) subfamily of RPTK; this subfamily is characterized by extracellul
ar domains containing an immunoglobulin-like motif, a Cys-rich region
and two fibronectin type-III repeats. Analysis of additional cDNAs rev
ealed that two positions of alternative splicing in primary transcript
s may produce several isoforms of this RPTK; cDNAs corresponding to th
ree isoforms of this receptor are reported. These isoforms are predict
ed to have altered extracellular ligand-binding domains and/or altered
cytoplasmic juxtamembrane regions. The nucleotide sequence of cek7 cD
NAs identified in this study diverges at the 3' end from the sequence
found in a recently described partial cek7 cDNA [Sajjadi and Pasquale,
Oncogene 8 (1993) 1807-1813]. Therefore, a third position of alternat
ive splicing may produce Cek7 RPTK with divergent C-terminal tails. RN
A blot analysis revealed expression of this receptor at highest levels
in the central nervous system and eyes of 10-day-old chicken embryos.