The murine gas5 gene was originally isolated based on its preferential expr
ession in the growth arrest phase of the cell cycle. This gene contains 12
exons from which two alternatively spliced transcripts have been initially
identified. More recently, it has been reported that both human and murine
gas5 genes contain in their introns sequences homologous to the small nucle
olar RNAs involved in the processing of ribosomal RNA. Here we report on th
e identification and analysis of the expression pattern of two novel altern
atively spliced mouse gas5 mRNAs which contain no obvious open reading fram
e (ORF). Using antibodies generated against the putative amino acid sequenc
e deduced from the gas5 cDNAs, we were not able to detect any Gas5 protein
in cultured cells or murine tissues extracts. Even more definitive evidence
that the gas5 gene may not encode a protein was obtained by cloning and se
quencing the rat gas5 gene which revealed that the putative ORF is interrup
ted by a stop codon after the first 13 amino acids. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scien
ce B.V. All rights reserved.