Characterization of the mouse hnRNP A2/B1/B0 gene and identification of processed pseudogenes

The mouse hnRNP A2/B1/B0 gene has been cloned using a PCR-based strategy and sequenced. Analysis of this sequence showed that the gene organization closely follows that of the human orthologue with 12 exons and 11 introns. The hnRNP A2/B1/B0 gene gives rise to four splice variants through alternative splicing of exons 2 and 9. RT-PCR assays indicated that all splice variants were expressed in mouse brain, skin, and stomach tissues of varying ages, although their ratios to one another varied with age and tissue type. We also identified a small subset of all polyadenylated splice variants that included intron 11, which shows 94% sequence identity between human and mouse. Several processed pseudogenes were identified in the mouse genome. A search of the mouse genome databases located five pseudogenes, four of which are presumed to be non-functional because of the presence of premature stop codons, large deletions or rearrangements within the coding region. The fifth, which possesses putative promoter elements and has a coding sequence identical to that of the hnRNP A2 mRNA variant, may be functional.