Identification of an alternative splicing isoform of chicken Lmbr1

Lmbr1 is the key candidate gene for limb development. Until now, at least five and four alternative splicing isoforms of Lmbr1 gene have been found in human and mouse, respectively. However, only two alternative splicing isoforms of this homologous gene have been reported in chicken. In the present study, one novel chicken Lmbr1 transcript variant (designated Lmbr1-1) was identified by 5′ RACE and RT-PCR. Chicken Lmbr1-1 possesses one novel transcription start site different from Lmbr1-N, and was predicted to encode one 192 amino acid protein with length variation in comparison with chicken LMBR1-N protein, which was produced by 5′ spliced site variation of chicken Lmbr1-N exon 10. Comparing with Lmbr1-N transcript, chicken Lmbr1-1 exhibited restricted tissue distribution of the expression. Comparative sequence analysis revealed a highly conservative intron element between chicken and mammalians from the intron 9 of chicken Lmbr1-N, indicating their possible importance as intronic elements in the regulation of alternative splicing of Lmbr1 in vertebrates. By direct PCR sequencing the exon 10 and its flanking sequences in chicken Lmbr1-N, four variation sites/haplotypes were identified from six chicken breeds. One 797A/G nonsynonymous mutation (266Arg/Gln) locating in exon 10 of chicken Lmbr1-N was predicted to affect the exon splice enhancer motif for serine/arginine-rich protein recognition. These data demonstrated that chicken Lmbr1 was alternatively spliced to generate multiple splice forms, as was the case in mammals and each of the alternative splicing isoforms might function differentially.