Fig. 5. Alternative splicing of the Arabidopsis TERT gene. (A) Schematic indicating the predicted intron/exons in the full-length TERT gene and those of the TERT-V(I8) variant. Size of the transcripts is given in bp. Exons are represented as black boxes and introns as striped boxes. Scale (bp) is given in the upper right corner. Numbered arrows show the location of the primers used in the RT-PCR experiments (see B). (B) RT-PCR analysis of the 5' end of TERT transcripts from inflorescences and leaves using the sets of primers as shown below the TERT gene in A. Black arrowheads indicate amplification of unspliced transcripts, and white arrowheads indicate spliced and alternatively spliced variants. (C) Schematic representation of the alternative splicing transcript (AST) sequences obtained after RT-PCR using the different primers sets as shown for each AST (ASTa-ASTg). Ratios given in brackets represent the frequency of each variant after sequencing. For primer sets 1-2 and 1-6, the remaining clones sequenced corresponded to unspliced mRNA. Sizes of each variant are given in bp. Retained introns are represented as striped boxes and the partially deleted exon 5 is shown as a white box.