Alternatively spliced forms have been reported for several phospholipase C
(PLC) isozymes, but not for PLC-beta 2, the most abundant PLC-beta in plate
lets. PLC-beta 2 cDNA cloned from the HL-60-cell cDNA library is 3543 bases
long, coding for 1181 amino acids. Compared With the published sequence, a
deletion of 45 nucleotides (2755-2799 nt, amino acids 864-878) was detecte
d in platelet and leucocyte mRNA amplified by reverse transcription (RT) po
lymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers corresponding to 1814-1838 nt (
forward) and 3328-3352 nt (reverse). Amplification of genomic DNA using pri
mers corresponding to 2575-2596 nt and 2864-2885 nt yielded a similar to 75
0 bp product: restriction analysis and sequencing revealed the 45-bp exon f
lanked by introns of 198 bp and 118 bp. Amplification of leucocyte and plat
elet cDNA using the same primers yielded products of similar to 310 nt and
similar to 265 nt, with (PLC-beta 2a) and without (PLC-beta 2b) the 45-nt s
equence. Thus, two alternatively spliced forms (1181 and 1166 amino acids)
of PLC-beta 2 are generated in haematopoietic cells. They differ in the car
boxyl terminal sequence implicated in interaction of PLC-beta enzymes with
G alpha q, particulate association and nuclear localization We propose that
the PLC-beta 2 splice variants may be regulated differentially with distin
ct roles in signal transduction.