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From: emigh@ecsvax.UUCP (Ted Emigh)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Multiple Reading Frames
Message-ID: <2909@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 14-Apr-87 14:16:50 EST
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.2909
Posted: Tue Apr 14 14:16:50 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 19-Apr-87 04:13:41 EST
Reply-To: emigh@ecsvax.UUCP (Ted Emigh)
Distribution: world
Organization: NC State University
Lines: 23

A recent Nature (Vol 326, 5 March 1987, pp 42-47) has the following article:

"A family of unusually spliced biologically active transcripts encoded
by a Drosophila clock gene," by Yoav Citri, et. al. (Brandeis Univ).

Abstract:
"Complementary DNA cloning of the transcripts of the Drosophila clock gene
period reveals three distinct transcripts.  These result from unusual splicing
pathways, one involving a CG 3' splice site and one resulting in the use of
two different reading frames in one exon, and they predict three separate
proteins.  Two of the cloned cDNAs can restore clock function to mutant
arrhythmic flies."

This appears to be the best evidence to date of multiple reading frames in
eukaryotes.  Notice that they have not located the proteins yet.  To my
mind, this may have arisen for somewhat of the same reason as DNA splicing
in the immunoglobulins.  The exon for the alternate reading frame is about
4800 bp in length.

-- 
Ted H. Emigh     Genetics and Statistics, North Carolina State U, Raleigh  NC
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