IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE HUMAN HOMOLOG OF THE SHORTPDE4A CAMP-SPECIFIC PHOSPHODIESTERASE RD1 (PDE4A1) BY ANALYSIS OF THEHUMAN HSPDE4A GENE LOCUS LOCATED AT CHROMOSOME 19P13.2

The HSPDE4A gene spans 50 kb, consists of at least 17 exons and is ori entated 5'-3', telomere to centromere. It is located at chromosome 19p 13.2, being 350 kb proximal to the gene encoding TYK2 and 850 kb dista l to the gene encoding the low-density lipoprotein receptor. Its struc ture is consistent with the production of active 'long' and 'short' is oenzymes as the result of alternative mRNA splicing at two splice junc tions. Identified is the single alternatively spliced 5' exon encoding the unique N-terminal region of the long isoenzyme HSPDE4A4B (pde46). The upstream conserved regions, UCR1 and UCR2, which form characteris tic domains of PDE4 long forms are each encoded by three exons. The PD E4A-subfamily-specific linker region LR1, which joins UCR1 and UCR2, i s encoded by two exons, whereas LR2, which joins UCR2 to the catalytic unit, is encoded by a single exon. Identification of exons encoding a n enzymically inactive product of this gene, HSPDE4A8A (2el), indicate s that this is an authentic gene product. The 5' exon encoding the uni que N-terminal region of the human homologue of the rodent isoform RNP DE4A1A (RD1) was located, and the splice junction used to produce this short PDE4A isoform shown to occur at a different position from that seen in both the rat PDE4B and PDE4D genes. Reverse transcriptase PCR analysis indicates that RD1 homologues are conserved across species, h aving a conserved membrane-targeting region and a hypervariable LR2 re gion. Human RD 1 was expressed transiently in COS-7 cells and detected as an 83 kDa species primarily associated with the high-speed membran e fraction. Human RD1 exhibited a K-m for cAMP of about 3 mu M, an IC5 0 value for inhibition by the PDE4-selective inhibitor rolipram of abo ut 0.3 mu M and was considerably more thermostable than rat RD1, Human RD 1 was generated as a mature 80 kDa species in an in vitro transcri ption-translation system and shown to be capable of binding to membran es. Knowledge of the gene structure and the associated sequence inform ation should facilitate analysis of the involvement of PDE4A in heredi tary disorders that may result from alterations in enzyme expression, activity, regulation and intracellular targeting and serve as a resour ce for determining authenticity of cloned PDE4A species.