Identification of a Drosophila presenilin homologue: evidence of alternatively spliced forms.

Some cases of Alzheimer's disease are inherited as a dominant trait in humans. To date, mutations in three genes account for some of them: the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and pre-senilins 1 and 2 (PS-1 and PS-2, respectively). The function of the presenilins is still unclear, although they belong to a transmembrane protein-gene family, probably involved in some signaling pathway. We report here the isolation of the Drosophila presenilin homologue using the human PS-1 and PS-2 cDNAs as probes. Only one single gene has been detected in the Drosophila genome and evidence for alternatively spliced forms is presented and compared to the isoforms reported in humans. Temporal and spatial expression has been assessed by Northern blot and in situ hybridization on embryos of different developmental stages.