Genomic structure and chromosomal localization of the human GDNFR -α gene

GDNFR-α is a glycosyl-phosphotidylinositol-linked receptor for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). GDNF binds to GDNFR-α and this complex, in turn, is believed to interact with the RET receptor tyrosine kinase to effect downstream signalling. GDNFR-α belongs to a novel gene family without strong homology to known genes. Thus, little information has been available to help predict genomic structure or location of this gene. In this study, the genomic organization of human GDNFR-α was delineated through a combination of PAC clone characterization, long distance PCR and sequence analyses. Exon-intron boundaries were defined by comparing the size and sequence of the genomic PCR products to those predicted by the cDNA sequence. The human GDNFR-α gene comprises 9 exons. GDNFR-α PAC clones were used for FISH analysis to map this gene to 10q26.