Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Identification of a novel transcript from the Hdc gene in Drosophila melanogaster
Department
Biomedical Sciences
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2012-2013
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
Abstract
The function of histamine in the peripheral tissues as a neurotransmitter has been well elucidated, while the function of histamine in centrally located neurons is less clear. To elucidate the manner by which this cell-specific regulation occurs, 5 and 3 RACE was performed on the transcript. Sequence analysis of cDNA ends obtained through 5 and 3 RACE indicates alternative 5 and 3 UTRs for the Hdc transcription unit. RT-PCR experiments were conducted, using the new cDNA sequence, to identify alternative Hdc transcripts. This analysis revealed 2 additional splicing sites in the Hdc transcription unit. The alternative mRNA isoforms that result from these extra mRNA splicing events do not change the coding region for HDC, but are likely involved in the regulation of tissue-specific expression of Hdc. Analysis of the relative levels of Hdc transcripts by quantitative RT-PCR has indicated that one transcript isoform is considerably more abundant than the other isoform. Since histamine content is typically much greater in the photoreceptors than other tissues, it is expected that current tissue in situ experiments will demonstrate that the more abundant isoform is localized to the photoreceptors and peripheral tissues while the less abundant isoform is localized to the central nervous system.
Conference Name
Neuroscience 2012 Annual Meeting
Conference Location
New Orleans, LA
ScholarWorks Citation
Burg, Martin G. and Jenkins, Amy, "Identification of a novel transcript from the Hdc gene in Drosophila melanogaster" (2013). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 1249.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/1249
