[Cloning and primary analysis of spt1 as a ncRNA candidate gene]

In a process of screening mouse embryonic cDNA library with suc2 signal sequence trap, a strongly positive clone named spt1 was obtained repeatedly. Analysis of spt1 shows that the inserted sequence is 697 bp containing 37 start codons (ATG) and 80 stop codons (TGA, TAG, TAA), and there is no potential open reading fame in it. Similarity search by BLAST indicates that the sequence locates in the long arm of 17th chromosome, and no known genes show significant similarity with it. Northern blot and RT-PCR give positive signal specifically in ovary tissue, the full length of spt1 is about 4. 5 approximately 5.0 kb. Yeast transformation and sequence truncation experiment suggested that spt1 could mediate the secretion of invertase. Hence, spt1 may be part of a novel ncRNA gene which is involved in protein secretion.