K. Okazaki et O. Niwa, MRNAs encoding zinc finger protein isoforms are expressed by alternative splicing of an in-frame intron in fission yeast, DNA RES, 7(1), 2000, pp. 27-30
We report here that a gene encoding a protein with three zinc fingers is ex
pressed predominantly to produce a protein containing only two zinc fingers
in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. A third zinc finger reside
s within the in-frame intron that is normally spliced out. By RT-PCR analys
is, we detected a minor transcript encoding a protein with three zinc finge
rs. Such alternative splicing for assortment of zinc finger domains have be
en reported in animals and implicated in switching of the target genes expr
essed specifically during development. This is the first report of the occu
rrence of such zinc finger assortment in lower eucaryotes.