Alternative pre-mRNA splicing leads to another Gsα variant, termed Gsα-N1 (Fig. 2). Identified first in the brain, Gsα-N1 is truncated in the C-terminus due to splicing of exon 3 (or exon 2 in the case of Gsα-S) onto a distinct exon containing an in-frame termination codon [35]. Exon N1 is located between exons 3 and 4. Gsα-N1 lacks most functional domains of Gsα, and therefore, it is probably unable to function in a way similar to the latter. Its cellular role and its biological significance remain unknown.
