Calca^tm1Jpc

Two separate functional peptides, calcitonin and calcitonin gene related peptide-alpha (CGRP-alpha), are derived from this locus by alternative splicing. Calcitonin is encoded by exon 4 and CGRP-alpha by exon 5. Part of exon 5 was replaced with a lacZ gene and neomycin selection gene. Northern blot and RT-PCR analysis on samples derived from spinal root ganglia of homozygous mice demonstrated that no detectable CGRP-alpha transcript was produced from this allele. Western blot analysis on spinal ganglia extracts derived from homozygous mice confirmed that no detectable CGRP-alpha was made. Precursor calcitonin mRNA was detected in the spinal cord. (J:54422)