Cardiac type cGMP-inhibited phosphodiesterase (PDE3A) gene structure: similarity and difference to adipocyte type PDE3B gene.

Phosphodiesterase type 3 isoforms, PDE3A and 3B, are expressed primarily in cardiovascular and adipose tissues, respectively. We previously reported a shorter transcript of 4.4-kb PDE3A which is predominantly transcribed in human placenta, whereas a full-length 7. 6-kb transcript corresponding to the cardiac PDE3A cDNA has not been characterized. Due to unfortunate circumstances created by changes in PDE3 nomenclature, PDE3B gene structure previously reported used PDE3A in its title. Here, we describe PDE3A gene structure, which comprises 16 exons spanning over 130 kb on chromosome 12p12. Two PDE3 isoforms share similar gene organization, but localize to different chromosomes. The most distal transcription initiation site of the PDE3A gene is approximately 1071 bases upstream of the ATG site, suggesting that exon 1 consists of 1071 and 960 bp of untranslated and translated sequences, respectively. The proximal 5'-flanking region, which does not contain TATA-like sequences, exhibited weak but significant promoter activity. Results suggest potential involvement of distal promoter/enhancer and translational regulation for expression of the 7.6-kb transcript. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.