Alternative splicing of human T-cell-specific MAL mRNA and its correlation with the exon/intron organization of the gene.

Sequence analysis of the T-cell-specific MAL gene revealed four exons, each encoding a hydrophobic, presumably membrane-associated, segment and its adjacent hydrophilic sequence. Amplification by the polymerase chain reaction of cDNA from different T-cell samples indicated the existence of four different forms of MAL mRNA, termed MAL-a, -b, -c, and -d, that arise from differential usage of exons II and/or III. As the three introns were located between complete codons, the reading frame was maintained in all the transcripts. A model resembling the structures postulated for different proteolipid proteins is proposed for the protein encoded by each alternative mRNA species.