The mRNA product of the Drosophila gene prune is spliced and encodes a protein containing a putative transmembrane domain.

A full-length 1.8 kb cDNA of the Drosophila melanogaster gene prune together with the corresponding genomic sequence was cloned and sequenced. Comparison of the two sequences revealed the existence of the intron in the prune primary transcript. The putative prune protein is likely to have a single transmembrane domain. The nature of several prune mutant alleles was analysed: the size and quantity of prune mRNA were found to be decreased in pn1 and pn3 mutations. Mutations pn1 and pn54c were shown to be accompanied by insertions of the same novel mobile repeated element.