Alternative splicing of the Menkes copper Atpase (Atp7a) transcript in the rat intestinal epithelium.

ABSTRACT: The intestinal Menkes copper Atpase (Atp7a) gene is strongly induced by iron deficiency in the rat intestine. We sought to develop an in vitro model to understand the mechanism of this induction by performing molecular studies in native rat intestine and in intestinal epithelial (IEC-6) cells. IEC-6 cells express Atp7a, and induction was noted with iron deprivation. 5' Rapid amplification of cDNA ends and PCR experiments revealed three splice variants in rat intestine and IEC-6 cells; all variants were strongly induced during iron deprivation (five- to sevenfold). The splice variants presumably encode proteins that would either contain the extreme NH(2) terminus of the protein (containing copper binding domain 1) or not. We thus hypothesized that more than one version of Atp7a protein exis

SUBMITTER: Collins JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2763807 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature