FIGURE 5.

Identification of a novel splice variant of CTRP3 in human tissues. A semiquantitative PCR analysis was carried out to evaluate the expression of CTRP3 and control GAPDH in human tissues (A). Two splice variants were identified and designated as CTRP3A and CTRP3B. B, organization of the CTRP3A and CTRP3B genes and proteins. The human CTRP3A gene is 25.3 kb in size, consists of six exons and five introns, and is located on chromosome 5p13. Exons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the CTRP3A gene are 171, 112, 155, 130, 100, and 2,885 bp in size, respectively. The size of each intron is also indicated. Exon 1B (gray square) contains a 219-nucleotide sequence found in CTRP3B cDNA, coding for an extra 73 amino acid residues. A potential N-linked glycosylation site is circled. The consensus splice donors are shown in italic type. C, pooled human and mouse sera were subjected to immunoblot analysis using the anti-CTRP3 antibody.