Sequence analysis of mouse muscle-type phosphofructokinase gene introns 10 and 11 with special reference to the exon skipping.

To elucidate physiological relevance of the skipping of exon 11 in muscle-type phosphofructokinase (PFK-M) transcripts, we partially cloned and analyzed the cDNA and the genomic fragment of mouse PFK-M. In RT-PCR analysis using a pair of primers which carry the region corresponding to human exon 11 in between, any minor transcript without exon 11 was not detected. Partial sequencing analysis of mouse PFK-M gene revealed that the junctions of intron 10 of human gene were both less identical to the consensus sequences than those of mouse gene, but that there was no appreciable difference in the junctions in intron 11 between mouse and human. These results suggest that the skipping of exon 11 in PFK-M gene transcripts would be found mainly in human. Although further investigation would be required to understand the mechanisms and physiological significance of exon-skipping, the exon-skipping in PFK-M transcripts would be unlikely to have the physiological significance.