Alternative splicing and exon duplication generates 10 unique porcine 5-HT4 receptor splice variants including a functional homofusion variant

2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joris H. De Maeyer ◽  
Jeroen Aerssens ◽  
Peter Verhasselt ◽  
Romain A. Lefebvre

5-HT4 receptors are present in human and porcine atrial myocytes while they are absent from the hearts of small laboratory animals. The pig is therefore the only available nonprimate animal model in which to study cardiac 5-HT4 receptor function under physiological conditions. While several human splice variants of the 5-HT4 receptor have been described, the splicing behavior of this receptor in porcine tissue is currently unknown. Here we report on the identification of nine novel COOH-terminal splice variants of the porcine 5-HT4 receptor, which were named 5-HT4(b2, j, k, l, m, o, p, q, r). The internal h-variant was found in combination with several COOH-terminal exons. In addition, splice variants were found that comprised duplicated exons fused to the common region of the 5-HT4 receptor, thereby providing evidence for a duplication of the porcine HTR4 gene. One of these variants putatively encoded a nine transmembrane-spanning domain homofusion receptor, 5-HT4(9TM); also the other variants with a duplicated region might translate into functional, transcriptionally fused dimeric 5-HT4 receptor variants. The elucidation of the genomic context confirmed that the variants were not genomic artefacts but originated from alternative splicing. This was further corroborated by a functional analysis of the variants 5-HT4(a), 5-HT4(r), and 5-HT4(9TM). To our knowledge, our data are the first to report on a functional GPCR with more than seven predicted transmembrane domains. These findings urge for caution when interpreting data on 5-HT4 receptor-related pharmacology obtained in the pig; validation at the molecular level might be needed before extrapolating results to human.

1995 ◽  
Vol 108 (5) ◽  
pp. 2093-2100 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.L. Hatem ◽  
N.R. Gough ◽  
D.M. Fambrough

Lysosomal membranes are enriched in extensively glycosylated transmembrane proteins, LAMP-1 and LAMP-2. LAMP-1 proteins have been characterized from several mammalian species and from chickens, but no non-mammalian homologues of LAMP-2 have been described, and no splice variants of either protein have been reported. Here we report the characterization of three cDNA clones encoding chicken LAMP-2. The nucleotide sequences of the cDNAs diverge at their 3′ ends within the open reading frame, resulting in sequences that code for three different transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains. Southern analysis suggests that a single gene encodes the common region of chicken LAMP-2. The position of the divergence and the identity of the common sequence are consistent with alternative splicing of 3′ exons. Analysis of the mRNAs present in adult chicken tissues suggests tissue-specific expression of the three chicken LAMP-2 variants, with LAMP-2b expressed primarily in the brain. The cytoplasmic domain of LAMP-type proteins contains the targeting signal for directing these molecules to the lysosome. Using chimeras consisting of the lumenal domain of chicken LEP100 (a LAMP-1) and the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of the LAMP-2 variants, we demonstrate in transfected mouse L cells that all three LAMP-2 carboxyl-terminal regions are capable of targeting the chimeric proteins to lysosomes. Levels of expression, subcellular distribution, and glycosylation of the LAMP proteins have all been shown to change with differentiation in mammalian cells and to be correlated with metastatic potential in certain tumor cell lines. Alternative splicing of the LAMP-2 transcript may play a role in these changes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Elisa Innocenzi ◽  
Ida Cariati ◽  
Emanuela De Domenico ◽  
Erika Tiberi ◽  
Giovanna D’Arcangelo ◽  
...  

Aerobic exercise (AE) is known to produce beneficial effects on brain health by improving plasticity, connectivity, and cognitive functions, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are still limited. Neurexins (Nrxns) are a family of presynaptic cell adhesion molecules that are important in synapsis formation and maturation. In vertebrates, three-neurexin genes (NRXN1, NRXN2, and NRXN3) have been identified, each encoding for α and β neurexins, from two independent promoters. Moreover, each Nrxns gene (1–3) has several alternative exons and produces many splice variants that bind to a large variety of postsynaptic ligands, playing a role in trans-synaptic specification, strength, and plasticity. In this study, we investigated the impact of a continuous progressive (CP) AE program on alternative splicing (AS) of Nrxns on two brain regions: frontal cortex (FC) and hippocampus. We showed that exercise promoted Nrxns1–3 AS at splice site 4 (SS4) both in α and β isoforms, inducing a switch from exon-excluded isoforms (SS4−) to exon-included isoforms (SS4+) in FC but not in hippocampus. Additionally, we showed that the same AE program enhanced the expression level of other genes correlated with synaptic function and plasticity only in FC. Altogether, our findings demonstrated the positive effect of CP AE on FC in inducing molecular changes underlying synaptic plasticity and suggested that FC is possibly a more sensitive structure than hippocampus to show molecular changes.


2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (13) ◽  
pp. 4320-4330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arneet L. Saltzman ◽  
Yoon Ki Kim ◽  
Qun Pan ◽  
Matthew M. Fagnani ◽  
Lynne E. Maquat ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Alternative splicing (AS) can regulate gene expression by introducing premature termination codons (PTCs) into spliced mRNA that subsequently elicit transcript degradation by the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway. However, the range of cellular functions controlled by this process and the factors required are poorly understood. By quantitative AS microarray profiling, we find that there are significant overlaps among the sets of PTC-introducing AS events affected by individual knockdown of the three core human NMD factors, Up-Frameshift 1 (UPF1), UPF2, and UPF3X/B. However, the levels of some PTC-containing splice variants are less or not detectably affected by the knockdown of UPF2 and/or UPF3X, compared with the knockdown of UPF1. The intron sequences flanking the affected alternative exons are often highly conserved, suggesting important regulatory roles for these AS events. The corresponding genes represent diverse cellular functions, and surprisingly, many encode core spliceosomal proteins and assembly factors. We further show that conserved, PTC-introducing AS events are enriched in genes that encode core spliceosomal proteins. Where tested, altering the expression levels of these core spliceosomal components affects the regulation of PTC-containing splice variants from the corresponding genes. Together, our results show that AS-coupled NMD can have different UPF factor requirements and is likely to regulate many general components of the spliceosome. The results further implicate general spliceosomal components in AS regulation.


Botany ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (12) ◽  
pp. 840-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Powles ◽  
Katharine Sedivy-Haley ◽  
Eric Chapman ◽  
Kenton Ko

Rhomboid serine proteases are grouped into three main types — secretases, presenilin-like associated rhomboid-like (PARL) proteases, and “inactive” rhomboid proteins. Although the three rhomboid groups are distinct, the different types are likely to operate within the same cell or compartment, such as observed in the plastids of Arabidopsis. There are four distinct plastid rhomboid genes at play in Arabidopsis plastids, two for active types (At1g25290 and At5g25752) and two for inactive forms (At1g74130 and At1g74140). The number of working plastid rhomboids is further increased by alternative splicing, as reported for At1g25290. To understand how the plastid rhomboid system works, it is necessary to identify all rhomboid forms in play. To this end, this study was designed to examine the alternative splicing activities of At1g74130, one of the two genes encoding proteolytically “inactive” plastid rhomboids. The exon mapping and DNA sequencing results obtained here indicate the presence of three prominent alternative splice variants in the At1g74130 transcript population. The dominant splice variant, L, encodes the full-length protein. The other two splice variants, M and S, produce proteins lacking sections from the carboxyl transmembrane domain region. The splice variants M and S appear to be at levels with functional potential and appear to adjust relative to each other during development and in response to changes in the level of Tic40, a component of the plastid translocon. The splice variant proteins themselves exhibit different characteristics with respect to rhomboid protein–substrate interactions. These differences were observed in bacterial co-expression pull-down assays and in yeast mitochondrial studies. When considered together, the data suggest that the alternative splicing of At1g74130 bears functional significance in Arabidopsis and is likely to be part of a mechanism for diversifying plastid rhomboid function.


2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 2427-2434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohei Doi ◽  
Naohiro Shibata ◽  
Keigo Shibayama ◽  
Kazunari Kamachi ◽  
Hiroshi Kurokawa ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT An Escherichia coli strain, HKYM68, which showed resistance to broad-spectrum cephalosporins was isolated from a sputum specimen in Japan. The high-level resistance of the strain to ceftazidime, cefpirome, and moxalactam was carried by a self-transferable plasmid. The β-lactamase gene responsible for the resistance was cloned and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence of this gene product, CMY-9, had a single amino acid substitution (E85D), the residue reported to be part of the recognition site for the R1 side chain of β-lactams, compared with the amino acid sequence of CMY-8 and also had 78% identity with the amino acid sequence of CepH, a chromosomal cephalosporinase of Aeromonas hydrophila. A sul1-type class 1 integron containing an aacA1-orfG gene cassette was identified upstream of bla CMY-9 and ended with a truncated 3′ conserved segment. The following 2.1 kb was almost identical to the common region of integrons In6 and In7 and the integron of pSAL-1, except that orf513 encoding a putative transposase was identified instead of orf341 due to addition of a single nucleotide. bla CMY-9 was closely located downstream of the end of the common region. These observations are indicative of the exogenous derivation of bla CMY-9 from some environmental microorganisms such as aeromonads.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Real-Hohn ◽  
Martin Groznica ◽  
Georg Kontaxis ◽  
Rong Zhu ◽  
Otávio Chaves ◽  
...  

Abstract The ~ 2.4 µm long rhinovirus ss(+)RNA genome consists of roughly 7,200 nucleotides. It is tightly folded to fit into the ~ 22 nm diameter void in the protein capsid. In addition to previously predicted secondary structural elements in the RNA, using the QGRS mapper, we revealed the presence of multiple quadruplex forming G-rich sequences (QGRS) in the RV-A, B, and C clades, with four of them being exquisitely conserved. The biophysical analyses of ribooligonucleotides corresponding to selected QGRS demonstrate G-quadruplex (GQ) formation in each instance and resulted in discovering another example of an unconventional, two-layer zero-nucleotide loop RNA GQ stable at physiological conditions. By exploiting the temperature-dependent viral breathing to allow diffusion of small compounds into the virion, we demonstrate that the GQ-binding compounds PhenDC3 and pyridostatin (PDS) uniquely interfere with viral uncoating. Remarkably, this inhibition was entirely prevented in the presence of K+ but not Na+, despite the higher GQ stabilising effect of K+. Based on virus thermostability studies combined with ultrastructural imaging of isolated viral RNA, we propose a mechanism where Na+ keeps the encapsidated genome loose, allowing its penetration by PDS to promote the transition of QGRS sequestered in alternative metastable structures into GQs. The resulting conformational change then materialises in a severely compromised RNA release from the proteinaceous shell. Targeting extracellularly circulating RVs with GQ-stabilisers might thus become a novel way of combating the common cold.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Bunda ◽  
Brianna LaCarubba ◽  
Melanie Bertolino ◽  
Marie Akiki ◽  
Kevin Bath ◽  
...  

Abstract Presynaptic CaV2.2 channels control calcium entry that triggers neurotransmitter release at both central and peripheral synapses. The Cacna1b gene encodes the α1-pore forming subunit of CaV2.2 channels. Distinct subsets of splice variants of CaV2.2 derived from cell-specific alternative splicing of the Cacna1b pre-mRNA are expressed in specific subpopulations of neurons. Four cell-specific sites of alternative splicing in Cacna1b that alter CaV2.2 channel function have been described in detail: three cassette exons (e18a, e24a, and e31a) and a pair of mutually exclusive exons (e37a/e37b). Cacna1b mRNAs containing e37a are highly enriched in a subpopulation of nociceptors where they influence nociception and morphine analgesia. E37a-Cacna1b mRNAs are also expressed in brain, but their cell-specific expression in this part of the nervous system, their functional consequences in central synapses and their role on complex behavior have not been studied. In this report, we show that e37a-Cacna1b mRNAs are expressed in excitatory projection neurons where CaV2.2 channels are known to influence transmitter release at excitatory inputs from entorhinal cortex (EC) to dentate gyrus (DG). By comparing behaviors of WT mice to those that only express e37b-CaV2.2 channels, we found evidence that e37a-CaV2.2 enhances behavioral responses to aversive stimuli. Our results suggest that alternative splicing of Cacna1b e37a influences excitatory transmitter release and couples to complex behaviors.


1997 ◽  
Vol 272 (4) ◽  
pp. C1250-C1261 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. D. Quednau ◽  
D. A. Nicoll ◽  
K. D. Philipson

The gene coding for the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger NCX1 is characterized by a cluster of six exons (A, B, C, D, E, and F) coding for a variable region in the COOH terminus of the large intracellular loop of the protein. Alternative splicing of these exons generates multiple tissue-specific variants of NCX1. Using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, we analyzed eight previously described and four new splicing isoforms of NCX1 in a wide variety of tissues and cells. Exons A and B are mutually exclusive, as shown in earlier studies, and splicing isoforms containing exon A are preferentially expressed in heart, brain, and skeletal muscle, whereas splicing variants with exon B are found in all rat tissues except heart. The second and third isoforms of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, NCX2 and NCX3, show a deletion of 37 amino acids in the intracellular loop corresponding to parts of the variable region of NCX1. We identified three splicing isoforms of NCX3 in brain and skeletal muscle by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. These splice variants are generated by including either of two alternative exons equivalent to the NCX1 exon A or B and by including or excluding a sequence equivalent to the NCX1 exon C. We did not detect any alternative splicing of NCX2. We examined selected tissues from neonatal and adult rats and found developmental regulation for NCX1 and NCX3 splicing isoforms in skeletal muscle. Specific isoform patterns were also detected for NCX1 and NCX3 in cultured cortical neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. We suggest a new terminology to distinguish the different splice variants of individual NCX isoforms.


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