Divergent functions through alternative splicing: the Drosophila CRMP gene in pyrimidine metabolism, brain, and behavior.

ABSTRACT: DHP and CRMP proteins comprise a family of structurally similar proteins that perform divergent functions, DHP in pyrimidine catabolism in most organisms and CRMP in neuronal dynamics in animals. In vertebrates, one DHP and five CRMP proteins are products of six genes; however, Drosophila melanogaster has a single CRMP gene that encodes one DHP and one CRMP protein through tissue-specific, alternative splicing of a pair of paralogous exons. The proteins derived from the fly gene are identical over 90% of their lengths, suggesting that unique, novel functions of these proteins derive from the segment corresponding to the paralogous exons. Functional homologies of the Drosophila and mammalian CRMP proteins are revealed by several types of evidence. Loss-of-function CRMP mutation modifies bot

SUBMITTER: Morris DH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3416003 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature