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One gene, but two messenger RNAs encode liver L and red cell L′ pyruvate kinase subunits

Abstract

Pyruvate kinase subunits of red cells and liver differ in their molecular weights. Peptide mapping of the rat enzymes has shown that this difference is due to a single exon peptide present in the red cell enzyme1‐3. There is strong genetic evidence in man that both enzymes are encoded by the same structural gene (refs 4–8 and G. E. J. Staal et al., personal communication). Here we describe in vitro protein synthesis experiments using RNA extracted from rat red cells and liver which demonstrate that the difference is reflected in tissue-specific mRNAs. Thus the difference is not due to post-translational processing and presumably involves either gene rearrangement or differential processing of a common nuclear RNA precursor.

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Marie, J., Simon, MP., Dreyfus, JC. et al. One gene, but two messenger RNAs encode liver L and red cell L′ pyruvate kinase subunits. Nature 292, 70–72 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292070a0

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