Isolation of a Complementary DNA That Encodes the Mammalian Splicing Factor SC35

The mammalian splicing factor SC35 is required for the first step in the splicing reaction and for spliceosome assembly. The cloning and characterization of a complementary DNA encoding this protein revealed that it is a member of a family of splicing factors that includes mammalian SF2/ASF. This family of proteins is characterized by the presence of a ribonucleoprotein (RNP)-type RNA binding motif and a carboxyl-terminal serine-arginine-rich (SR) domain. A search of the DNA sequence database revealed that the thymus-specific exon (E_T) of the c-myb proto-oncogene is encoded on the antisense strand of the SC35 gene.