Novel alternative splice variants of chicken NPAS3 are expressed in the developing central nervous system

•Novel chicken NPAS3 (cNPAS3) splice variants are defined.•cNPAS3 is expressed in the ventricular zone of developing central nervous system.•Expression patterns of cNPAS3 and cReelin, a known target of NPAS3, are compared.•Overexpression of cNPAS3 had no effect in the neural tube development.

We report isolation of novel splice variants of chicken Neuronal Per-Arnt–Sim domain protein 3 (cNPAS3) gene distinct from the previously predicted cNPAS3 at the 5′ end. Newly identified cNPAS3 splice variants feature N-terminus coding sequences with high degrees of homology to human NPAS3 (hNAPS3). We also show that the alternative splicing pattern of NPAS3 is conserved between chicken and human. RNA in situ hybridization indicated that the expression of cNPAS3 in the developing central nervous system (CNS) is limited to the ventricular zone and only partially overlaps with that of chicken Reelin (cReelin), the only known regulatory target gene of NPAS3 in the adult brain. Overexpression of cNPAS3 by in ovo electroporation had little effect on the expression of Sox2, a marker for neural precursors, or of Isl1/2, a marker for early differentiating motor neurons. Taken together with the little effect of cNPAS3 overexpression on cReelin, it is noted that the function of NPAS3 in the developing CNS remains to be determined. Still, identification of proper cDNA sequences for cNPAS3 should represent a solid beginning of the understanding process.