Cloning and expression pattern of a murine semaphorin homologous to H-sema IV

THE semaphorin/collapsin family of proteins comprises molecules thought to be important for the guidance of growing axons. All members of this family, which includes both secreted and cell-surface molecules, share a conserved domain of similar to 500 amino acids. Here, Ne report the cloning of a novel murine semaphorin, termed M-sema IV. It displays 96.3% identity to the human semaphorin H-sema IV and is therefore likely to be the respective murine homologue. In addition, an isoform was identified, which contains an additional 31 amino acids in the semaphorin domain. M-sema N appears to be expressed ubiquitously in adulthood. During embryogenesis, in situ hybridization revealed M-sema IV expression in subregions of the central nervous system and various other tissues like skin, kidney, lung and intestine. NeuroReport 9: 3975-3979 (C) 1998 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.