Rat neurotrophic factor receptor, GFRα-4

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Thus, the present invention relates to a nucleic acid molecule encoding a mammalian GDNF family receptor α-4 (GFRα-4) or an immunologically and/or biologically active fragment thereof, which comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of (a) nucleotide sequences encoding the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO: 8 or 9; (b) nucleotide sequences comprising the coding sequence as depicted in SEQ ID NO: 5 or 6; (c) nucleotide sequences encoding a polypeptide derived from the polypeptide encoded by a nucleotide sequence of (a) or (b) by way of substitution, deletion and/or addition of one or several amino acids of the amino acid sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequence of (a) or (b); (d) nucleotide sequences the complementary strand of which hybridizes with a nucleotide sequence of any one of (a) to (c); (e) nucleotide sequences encoding a polypeptide the amino acid sequence of which has an identity of 30% or more to the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide encoded by a nucleotide sequence of any one of (a) to (d); (f) nucleotide sequences encoding a polypeptide capable of binding persephin comprising a fragment or an epitope-bearing portion of a polypeptide encoded by a nucleotide sequence of any one of (a) to (e); (g) nucleotide sequences comprising at least 15 consecutive nucleotides of a nucleotide sequence of any one of (a) to (f) and encoding a polypeptide capable of binding persephin; and (h) nucleotide sequences comprising a nucleotide sequence which is degenerated as a result of the genetic code to a nucleotide sequence of any of (a) to (g).
Advantageously, the nucleic acid molecule according to the invention may be used for expression of said GFRα-4 protein in, for example, a host cell or the like, using an appropriate expression vector.
Preferably, the nucleic acid molecule is a DNA molecule, and even more preferably a cDNA molecule having a sequence as illustrated in any of Sequence ID No's