GDNF: existence of a second transcript in the brain.

The detection of the glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) mRNA by RT-PCR in dissociated cell culture of rat embryonic or post-natal brain allowed the amplification of a doublet. The major band corresponded to the expected size and the minor one to a shorter product. We cloned and sequenced the latter product, and thus identified a mRNA potentially encoding for an isoform of the initially described precursor protein involved in GDNF synthesis.