Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) catalyze the hydrolysis of
cAMP and cGMP, thereby participating in regulation of the intracellul
ar concentrations of these second messengers. The PDE1 family is defin
ed by regulation of activity by calcium and calmodulin. We have cloned
and characterized the mouse PDE1B gene, which encodes the 63-kDa calc
ium/calmodulin-dependent PDE (CaM-PDE), an isozyme that is expressed i
n the CNS in the olfactory tract, dentate gyrus, and striatum and may
participate in learning, memory, and regulation of phosphorylation of
DARPP-32 in dopaminergic neurons. We screened an I-129/SvJ mouse genom
ic library and identified exons 2-13 of the PDE1B gene that span 8.4 k
b of genomic DNA. Exons range from 67 to 205 nucleotides and introns f
rom 91 to 2250 nucleotides in length. Exon 1 was not present in the 3
kb of genomic DNA 5' to exon 2 in our clones. The mouse PDE1B gene sha
res many similar or identical exon boundaries as well as considerable
sequence identity with the rat PDE4B and PDE4D genes and the Drosophil
a dunce cAMP-specific PDE gene dnc, suggesting that these genes all ar
ose from a common ancestor. Using fluorescence in situ hybridization,
we localized the PDE1B gene to the distal tip of mouse Chromosome (Chr
) 15.