The characterization of three types of partially processed mRNA and two pseudogenes for human liver cytochrome b5.

We have isolated cDNA clones corresponding to partially processed human liver cytochrome b5 mRNAs. All the clones contained poly(A) sequences, and one clone had a shorter 3' non-translated sequence, indicating the use of an alternative poly(A) addition signal. In addition, all the clones contained the coding information for amino acids 87-134; however, there were two types of intron junction adjacent to the coding sequence. Detailed analysis of the Type I clones showed that the Type II intron sequence was contained within the Type I sequence, but approximately 1000 bp 5' of the Type I intron-exon junction showed alternative splicing within this intron. In addition, we have isolated two pseudogenes which lack introns, suggesting the retroviral insertion of human liver cytochrome b5 mRNA sequences into the human genome.