Regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins act as GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) for Gasubunits and negatively regulate G protein-coupled receptor signaling. Using RGS5 gene-specific RT-PCR, we have identified a novel alternative splicing variant of RGS5 mRNA in human ocular tissues. The alternative splicing of RGS5 mRNA occurred at position +44 (GenBank NM_003617), spliced out 174 bp (+44 to +218 bp) of the cod-ing region, and encoded an RGS5s protein with a 108 amino acid N-ter-minal deletion. .
