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ISSN 0582-9879 Acta Biochim et Biophysica Sinica 2004, 36(7): 501–507 CN 31-1300/Q
Identification and Characterization of a Rat Novel Gene RSEP4
Expressed Specifically in Central Nervous System
Xi-Dao WANG1,2, Ling-Wei KONG1, Zhi-Qin XIE1, Yu-Qiu ZHANG3, Zhi-Xin LIN2, Zhi-Qi ZHAO3, Lei YU4, and Nai-He JING1*
1Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Laboratory of Stem Cell
Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for
Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; 2School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiaotong
University, Shanghai 200030, China; 3Institute
of Neurobiology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; 4Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, College of
Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Abstract The low-abundantly expressed genes composed the majorities of the
mRNAs expressed in the central nervous system (CNS), and were thought to be
important for the normal brain functions. Through differential screening a
low-abundance cDNA sublibrary with mRNA from neuropathic pain of chronic constriction
injury (CCI) model, we have identified a novel rat gene, rat spinal-cord
expression protein 4 gene (RSEP4). The total length of RSEP4 cDNA is
2006 bp, with a 501 nucleotide open reading frame (ORF) that encodes a 167
amino acid polypeptide. Northern blot revealed that RSEP4 was expressed
specifically in the CNS. In situ hybridization showed that the mRNA of
RSEP4 was strongly expressed in the CA1, CA2, CA3 and DG regions of
hippocampus, the Purkinje cells of cerebellum, and the small sensory neurons of
dorsal horn and large motor neurons of ventral horn of spinal cord.
Over-expression of RSEP4-EGFP fusion protein in the human embryonic kidney 293T
cells showed that RSEP4 protein was mainly localized in the cell
cytoplasm. These results suggest that RSEP4 may play some roles in the CNS.
Key words central nervous system
(CNS); rat; Northern blot; in situ hybridization
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Received: April 29, 2004 Accepted: May 29, 2004
This work was supported by the grants from the National Key Basic
Research and Development Program (G1999054000, 2002CB713802), and the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 39870283, 39930090, 90208011,
30300174)
*Corresponding author: Tel, 86-21-54921381; Fax, 86-21-54911011;
E-mail, [email protected]