Alternative splicing of human p53 transcripts.

The human p53 gene is expressed in both normal and transformed human cells as a family of polypeptides. One type of heterogeneity, which results in variation in electrophoretic mobility, is found at amino acid residue 72 (Matlashewski et al, 1987). A second type of heterogeneity is described here which involves an alteration in the sequence of the open reading frame at the 5' end of the p53 mRNA. This heterogeneity is generated by alternative splicing at the acceptor site in intron 2 resulting in an altered 5' end coding region. This study represents the first description of an altered human p53 transcript arising by differential splicing.