CLONING OF A NOVEL MURINE ISOFORM OF THE GLIAL-CELL LINE-DERIVED NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR-RECEPTOR

WE report here the cloning of a novel form of the murine glial cell li ne-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) receptor. Northern blot analyses of various mouse tissues, including whole brain, demonstrated the exi stence of multiple transcripts of GDNF receptor. Screening of an adult mouse liver cDNA library yielded two isoforms of the receptor. One of the forms (alpha) shows a high degree of homology with other mammalia n GDNFR-alpha and the other novel form (beta) is identical to the a fo rm except for a deletion of five amino acids. These two forms do not s hare high sequence homologies with the recently isolated neurturin rec eptor. Both the alpha and beta forms are expressed in various murine t issues but not in muscle.