EXPRESSION OF THE CALSEQUESTRIN GENE IN CHICKEN CEREBELLUM PURKINJE NEURONS

Intracellular rapidly exchanging Ca2+ stores are identified and define d in terms of intralumenal low-affinity, high-capacity Ca2+-binding pr oteins, of which calsequestrin (CS) is the prototype in striated muscl es. In chicken striated muscles, there is a single gene for CS [Choi a nd Clegg (1990) Dev. Biol. 142, 169-177]. In the chicken brain, the ge ne for CS was found to be selectively expressed in Purkinje neurons, a s judged by Northern blotting, in situ hybridization and immunocytoche mistry. The synthetic machinery for CS was found to be restricted to t he cell body, i.e. excluded from dendrites and axon.