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Transcriptional analysis of the PTEN/MMAC1 pseudogene, ΨPTEN

Abstract

PTEN/MMAC1 is a recently characterized tumor suppressor. A pseudogene derived from the human PTEN/MMAC1 phosphatase, ΨPTEN, has been reported. Recent analysis of the pseudogene revealed conflicting results about the expression of ΨPTEN. In this study, we show that the PTEN/MMAC1 pseudogene is actively transcribed in all cells and tissues examined. In some cases, pseudogene transcripts were found to represent as much as 70% of the total PTEN/MMAC1 RNA. As ΨPTEN is transcribed, there is a potential for misinterpretation of PTEN/MMAC1 mutations when RT – PCR techniques are used, as well as potential for a ΨPTEN-encoded translation product. Although we were unable to detect a pseudogene protein product in the cell lines examined, a baculovirus produced GST pseudogene fusion protein exhibited phosphatase activity comparable to wild type. The results of this study, taken together, indicate the potential complication of PTEN/MMAC1 molecular analysis caused by the expression of ΨPTEN.

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Abbreviations

ΨPTEN:

PTEN/MMAC1 pseudogene

PCR:

polymerase chain reaction

poly(A)+:

polyadenylated

UTR:

untranslated region

RT:

reverse transcription

SSC:

(3 M Sodium Chloride, 0.3 M Sodium Citrate)

SDS:

Sodium dodecyl sulfate

poly (E:Y):

poly glutamate:tyrosine)

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Terry McClannahan's lab for cDNA libraries, Dan Gorman's lab for DNA sequencing, Debbie Ligget for oligo synthesis, Bonnie Wu, Chi Young and Julie Sheung for Sf9 cell production and purification, and Gary Burgett for graphics support. We would also like to thank Annalisa D'Andrea, Mike Tomlinson, Jeng Her, Sarah Pogue, Ronald Herbst, David Teng, and Sean Tavtigian for helpful discussions. The DNAX Research Institute is supported by Schering-Plough.

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Fujii, G., Morimoto, A., Berson, A. et al. Transcriptional analysis of the PTEN/MMAC1 pseudogene, ΨPTEN. Oncogene 18, 1765–1769 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1202492

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