Alternatively spliced cyclin C mRNA is widely expressed, cell cycle regulated, and encodes a truncated cyclin box.

The cyclin C protein has recently been shown to associate with a unique cyclin dependent protein kinase (cdk8) and it has been proposed that this complex may regulate RNA transcription during the cell cycle. In addition, the human cyclin C gene has been localized to human chromosome 6q21 and it was found to be frequently deleted in a subset of acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALL's). Screening of an avian T-cell cDNA library resulted in the isolation of a cyclin C homologue as well as an abundant, yet distinct, cyclin C-related cDNA. The predicted open reading frame (ORF) of the cyclin C cDNA predicted a 283 amino acid protein that was > 99% identical to the human protein and 72% identical to the Drosophila melanogaster protein. However, the predicted ORF of the cyclin C-related cDNA predicted a much smaller 105 amino acid protein that was identical to cyclin C well into the cyclin-box region (amino acid residue 98), where it abruptly diverges and then terminates. Using PCR analysis of cDNA derived from a range of cell lines and tissues, alternative splicing of the avian cyclin C gene has been demonstrated. Furthermore, a smaller approximately 19 kDa protein that co-migrates with the in vitro transcribed and translated truncated cyclin C protein was detected in normal and virally-transformed avian cells with a cyclin C-specific antibody. Expression of alternatively spliced cyclin C mRNA and protein is regulated in a cell cycle-dependent manner reminiscent of cyclin B2. The function of this truncated cyclin C protein is not known, but its expression in avian cells suggest that this truncated cyclin C protein may participate as an early endogenously encoded cyclin C inhibitor.