Variants of alpha-fetoprotein coding and expression sequences

A nucleic acid primer in which the primer comprises at least ten contiguous nucleotides of a polynucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:

• 1 or a complement thereof.

A polypeptide translated from a nucleic acid comprised at least in part by a polynucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:

• 1 or a complement thereof.

An isolated nucleic acid having a polynucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:

• 2, a homolog thereof, or a complement thereof.

A nucleic acid primer in which the primer comprises at least ten contiguous nucleotides of a polynucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:

• 2 or a complement thereof.

A polypeptide translated from a nucleic acid comprised at least in part by a polynucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:

• 2 or a complement thereof.

A composition comprising an isolated nucleic acid having a polynucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:

• 1, SEQ ID NO:
• 2, or complements thereof.

A polynucleotide primer comprising:

• seven or more nucleotide residues capable of hybridizing under stringent hybridization conditions to a nucleic acid encoding a variant form of alpha-fetoprotein.

A method of detecting a variant form of alpha-fetoprotein mRNA comprising:

• (a) combining a sample suspected of containing a variant form of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) mRNA, at least one a primer capable of hybridizing to a variant form of AFP mRNA, and reagents for PCR to form a mixture,
• (b) subjecting the mixture to thermocycling, and
• (c) determining the absence or presence of cDNA corresponding to a variant form of AFP mRNA.

A method of identifying or detecting hemopoietic stem or progenitor cells comprising determining the presence or absence of a variant form of alpha-fetoprotein mRNA in cells suspected of being homopoietic stem or progenitor cells.

An isolated nucleic acid encoding a variant form of alpha-fetoprotein preferentially expressed in progenitor cells, in which exon 1 of exons 1-14 of alpha-fetoprotein has been replaced by a polynucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:

• 1, SEQ ID NO:
• 2, or a fusion thereof.

A probe capable of detecting the expression of a variant form of alpha-fetoprotein comprising a nucleic acid consisting essentially of at least 10 contiguous nucleotides of a polynucleotide sequence corresponding to SEQ ID NO:

• 1, a homolog thereof, or a complement thereof.

A method of preparing a subpopulation of cells enriched in hemopoietic progenitors comprising:

• (a) providing a cell suspension comprising subpopulations of various types of cells, and
• (b) selecting a subpopulation of cells, which expresses a variant form of alpha-fetoprotein, to provide an enriched population of hemopoietic progenitors.

A composition comprising at least one subpopulation of cells which comprises hemopoietic progenitors, or their progeny, capable of expressing variant AFP.