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The carnitine acetyltransferase gene (CRAT): A characterization of porcine transcripts with insights into the 5’-end variants of mammalian transcripts and their possible sub-cellular localization

Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters volume 14, pages 90–99 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Carnitine acetyltransferase (CRAT) is an important enzyme for energy homeostasis and fat metabolism. We characterized the predicted full length cDNA sequence of the porcine CRAT gene. Its structure is very similar to that in humans with respect to the size and organization of the 14 exons. We demonstrated the existence of a porcine alternative transcript resulting from a partial intron-retention at the 5’ end of exon 2. To perform a comparison of the 5’ end variants of the mammalian CRAT gene, we analyzed the Genbank data, and here we propose a new 5’ variant for dog, rat and mouse. In contrast to other mammals where this variant encodes a shorter protein (−21 aa in human, mouse and rat, and −14 aa in dog), the pig variant encodes for a longer protein (+18 aa). In all mammalian species, variant 1 has a high probability of a preferential mitochondrial sub-cellular localization. Nevertheless, it is not evident, in particular in porcine and dog species, that the second variant is associated with a different sub-cellular specificity.

Abbreviations

CRAT:

carnitine acetyltransferase

HSA9:

human chromosome 9

EST:

expression sequence tag

v.1:

variant n°1

aa:

amino acid

RT-PCR:

reverse transcription PCR

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Génétique Cellulaire, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), UMR 444, BP52627, 31326, Castanet Tolosan Cedex, France

    Annie Robic, Thomas Faraut, Laurence Liaubet & Denis Milan

Authors
  1. Annie Robic
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  2. Thomas Faraut
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  3. Laurence Liaubet
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  4. Denis Milan
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Correspondence to Annie Robic.

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Robic, A., Faraut, T., Liaubet, L. et al. The carnitine acetyltransferase gene (CRAT): A characterization of porcine transcripts with insights into the 5’-end variants of mammalian transcripts and their possible sub-cellular localization. Cell Mol Biol Lett 14, 90–99 (2009). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11658-008-0036-3

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Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters

ISSN: 1689-1392

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