Abstract
We have been concerned with the functional significance of small poly (A)+ RNAs with partial Menkes mRNA sequence that are found in non-Menkes human cells. One of these RNAs appears to have formed through a splicing event that excised exons 3–15 and formed a union between exons 2 and 16. This variant is common to nearly all the human cells lines that have been examined in this laboratory and, of greater interest, appeared in HepG2 cells and undifferentiated human placental cells that do not express the full-length transcript. The data suggest that the Menkes gene, through splicing modifications, may code for more than one protein. What is presently considered a gene for a single protein may be a locus for a network of proteins involved in intracellular copper trafficking. J. Trace Elem. Exp. Med. 12:331–335, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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