Detection of exon skipping and retained introns in transcription of the human thrombospondin 2 gene

Alternative transcripts of the gene for human thrombospondin 2 (TSP2), an extracellular glycoprotein, have been identified using a PCR procedure. Species that show exon skipping and/or retained introns were revealed. In particular, a species was characterized in which exon 3 has been spliced from the sequence. This transcript is otherwise intact from exon 1A to exon 22. Transcripts which retain intron 1A, intron 1B, or intron 2 were also identified. Tissue-specific differences were evident in the transcripts with retained introns. In addition, a species which both retained intron 1B and skipped exon 3 was revealed. The existence of these alternative transcripts of the human TSP2 gene could be important for understanding the diverse functions and tissue-specific expression implicated for TSP2.