Kato H, Youn H Y, Ohashi T, Watari T, Goitsuka R, Tsujimoto H, Hasegawa A
Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Gene. 1996 Oct 24;177(1-2):11-6. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(96)00262-4.
Using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated equine peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cDNA as a template, we performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification with equine interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) specific primers. Electrophoresis of the PCR product on agarose gel revealed an additional smaller fragment that hybridized with an equine IL-1 beta cDNA probe. Sequencing of this fragment demonstrated that it was shorter than normal equine IL-1 beta cDNA by 162 nucleotides, which corresponded to exon 5 of the human and murine IL-1 beta genes. The deletion of 162 nucleotides did not result in a frame shift but spliced out the putative exon 5 of the IL-1 beta gene which includes the cleavage site for the IL-1 beta converting enzyme (ICE) in human and murine IL-1 beta. Expression of the alternatively spliced IL-1 beta transcript in PBMC was also detected after stimulation with other compounds. These results clearly indicate the existence of an alternatively spliced IL-1 beta transcript in equine PBMC.
