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Exon

About: Exon is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 38308 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1745408 citations. The topic is also known as: exons.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The identification of a genetic defect in the ceruloplasmin gene in a patient previously noted to have a total absence of circulating serum cerulplasmin in association with late-onset retinal and basal ganglia degeneration and identifies aceruloplasmemia as an autosomal recessive disorder of iron metabolism is reported.
Abstract: Ceruloplasmin is an abundant alpha 2-serum glycoprotein that contains 95% of the copper found in the plasma of vertebrate species. We report here on the identification of a genetic defect in the ceruloplasmin gene in a patient previously noted to have a total absence of circulating serum ceruloplasmin in association with late-onset retinal and basal ganglia degeneration. In this patient T2 (transverse relaxation time)-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed basal ganglia densities consistent with iron deposition, and liver biopsy confirmed the presence of excess iron. Although Southern blot analysis of the patient's DNA was normal, PCR amplification of 18 of the 19 exons composing the human ceruloplasmin gene revealed a distinct size difference in exon 7. DNA sequence analysis of this exon revealed a 5-bp insertion at amino acid 410, resulting in a frame-shift mutation and a truncated open reading frame. The validity of this mutation was confirmed by analysis of DNA from the patient's daughter, which revealed heterozygosity for this same 5-bp insertion. The presence of this mutation in conjunction with the clinical and pathologic findings demonstrates an essential role for ceruloplasmin in human biology and identifies aceruloplasminemia as an autosomal recessive disorder of iron metabolism. These findings support previous studies that identified ceruloplasmin as a ferroxidase and are remarkably consistent with recent studies on the essential role of a homologous copper oxidase in iron metabolism in yeast. The clinical and laboratory findings suggest that additional patients with movement disorders and nonclassical Wilson disease should be examined for ceruloplasmin gene mutations.

531 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Since an 8-base pair target site duplication was observed, retrotranscriptional insertion of an active LINE-1 sequence is suspected as the cause of this insertion event.
Abstract: The APC gene is responsible for familial adenomatous polyposis and is considered to be a tumor suppressor gene associated with development of sporadic colorectal tumors. Here we report the disruption of the APC gene caused by somatic insertion of a long interspersed repetitive element (LINE-1 sequence) into the last exon of the APC gene in a colon cancer. The inserted sequence was composed of a 3' portion of the LINE-1 consensus sequence and nearly 180 base pairs of polyadenylate tract. Furthermore, since an 8-base pair target site duplication was observed, retrotranscriptional insertion of an active LINE-1 sequence is suspected as the cause of this insertion event. This is the first report of the disruption of a tumor suppressor gene caused by somatic insertion of a mobile genetic element.

531 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that the splicing of a large group of exons is reprogrammed during neuronal development by a switch in expression between two highly similar polypyrimidine tract-binding proteins, PTB and nPTB (neural PTB).
Abstract: Many metazoan gene transcripts exhibit neuron-specific splicing patterns, but the developmental control of these splicing events is poorly understood. We show that the splicing of a large group of exons is reprogrammed during neuronal development by a switch in expression between two highly similar polypyrimidine tract-binding proteins, PTB and nPTB (neural PTB). PTB is a well-studied regulator of alternative splicing, but nPTB is a closely related paralog whose functional relationship to PTB is unknown. In the brain, nPTB protein is specifically expressed in post-mitotic neurons, whereas PTB is restricted to neuronal precursor cells (NPC), glia, and other nonneuronal cells. Interestingly, nPTB mRNA transcripts are found in NPCs and other nonneuronal cells, but in these cells nPTB protein expression is repressed. This repression is due in part to PTB-induced alternative splicing of nPTB mRNA, leading to nonsense-mediated decay (NMD). However, we find that even properly spliced mRNA fails to express nPTB protein when PTB is present, indicating contributions from additional post-transcriptional mechanisms. The PTB-controlled repression of nPTB results in a mutually exclusive pattern of expression in the brain, where the loss of PTB in maturing neurons allows the synthesis of nPTB in these cells. To examine the consequences of this switch, we used splicing-sensitive microarrays to identify different sets of exons regulated by PTB, nPTB, or both proteins. During neuronal differentiation, the splicing of these exon sets is altered as predicted from the observed changes in PTB and nPTB expression. These data show that the post-transcriptional switch from PTB to nPTB controls a widespread alternative splicing program during neuronal development.

530 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The differential expression of a number of genes that undergo alternative poly(A) site choice or polyadenylation/splicing competition could be regulated at the level of amounts and activities of either generic or tissue-specific polyadenyation factors and/or splicing factors.
Abstract: Many genes have been described and characterized which result in alternative polyadenylation site use at the 3'-end of their mRNAs based on the cellular environment. In this survey and summary article 95 genes are discussed in which alternative polyadenylation is a consequence of tandem arrays of poly(A) signals within a single 3'-untranslated region. An additional 31 genes are described in which polyadenylation at a promoter-proximal site competes with a splicing reaction to influence expression of multiple mRNAs. Some have a composite internal/terminal exon which can be differentially processed. Others contain alternative 3'-terminal exons, the first of which can be skipped in some cells. In some cases the mRNAs formed from these three classes of genes are differentially processed from the primary transcript during the cell cycle or in a tissue-specific or developmentally specific pattern. Immunoglobulin heavy chain genes have composite exons; regulated production of two different Ig mRNAs has been shown to involve B cell stage-specific changes in trans -acting factors involved in formation of the active polyadenylation complex. Changes in the activity of some of these same factors occur during viral infection and take-over of the cellular machinery, suggesting the potential applicability of at least some aspects of the Ig model. The differential expression of a number of genes that undergo alternative poly(A) site choice or polyadenylation/splicing competition could be regulated at the level of amounts and activities of either generic or tissue-specific polyadenylation factors and/or splicing factors.

529 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Human Tumor Necrosis Factor and Lymphotoxin are cytotoxic proteins which have similar biological activities and share 30 percent amino acid homology.
Abstract: Human Tumor Necrosis Factor and Lymphotoxin are cytotoxic proteins which have similar biological activities and share 30 percent amino acid homology. The single copy genes which encode these proteins share several structural features: each gene is approximately three kilobase pairs in length and is interrupted by three introns. In addition, these genes are closely linked and have been mapped to human chromosome 6. However, only the last exons of both genes, which code for more than 80 percent of each secreted protein, are significantly homologous (56 percent).

528 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20231,618
20222,004
2021905
2020908
2019887
2018909