Abstract
We present the complete nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence for the gene encoding Drosophila sn-glycerol-3-phospnate dehydrogenase. A transcription unit of 5kb was identified which is composed of eight protein encoding exons. Three classes of transcripts were shown to differ only in the 3′-end and to code for three protein isoforms each with a different C-terminal amino acid sequence. Each transcript is shown to arise through the differential expression of three isotype-specific exons at the 3′-end of the gene by a developmentally regulated process of 3′-end formation and alternate splicing pathways of the pre-mRNA. In contrast, the 5′-end of the gene is simple in structure and each mRNA is transcribed from the same promoter sequence. A comparison of the organization of the Drosophila and murine genes and the primary amino acid sequence between a total of four species indicates that the GPDH gene-enzyme system is highly conserved and is evolving slowly.

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