Tissue-specific expression of a rat intestinal mucin-like peptide

Expression of the gene for a rat intestinal mucin-like peptide (MLP) was studied by Northern-blot analyses of RNA prepared from a panel of rat tissues. Four probes (A-D) were constructed so as to span a 3.5 kb-long cDNA for rat MLP, and used for hybridization. Positive signals were obtained in intestine and colon, whereas lung, liver, stomach, submandibular gland and spleen were negative. The only transcript detected was approx. 9.5 kb in size. No mRNA splice variants were found. Hybridization in situ using probe B1, which corresponds to a cysteine-rich region near the C-terminus of MLP, confirmed that the gene for MLP is expressed by goblet cells of rat intestine and colon.