A constitutive region is responsible for nuclear targeting of 4.1R: modulation by alternative sequences results in differential intracellular localization

Red blood cell protein 4.1, 4.1R, is an extreme variation on the theme of isoform multiplicity. The diverse 4.1R isoforms, mainly generated by alternative pre-mRNA splicing, are localized at different intracellular sites, including the nucleus. To characterize nonerythroid 4.1 proteins lacking the most upstream translation initiation site, analyze their intracellular localization and define specific domains involved in differential intracellular targeting of 4.1R, we cloned 4.1 cDNAs lacking that translation initiation site. Seven different 4.1R cDNAs were isolated. Four of these encoded 4.1R proteins localized predominantly to the nucleus and the other three localized to the cytoplasm. Three of the nuclear 4.1R isoforms did not contain the nuclear localization signal previously identified in the alternative exon 16. A comparative analysis of the exon composition of the naturally occurring 4.1R cDNAs cloned and of appropriate composite cDNA constructs, with the subcellular distribution of their respective products, demonstrated that a region encoded by constitutive exons, which is therefore common to all 4.1R isoforms and has been termed ‘core region’, had the capacity of localizing to the nucleus. This region was able to confer nuclear targeting to a cytosolic reporter. In protein 4.1R isoforms, the nuclear targeting of the core region is modulated by the expression of alternative exons. Thus, exon 5-encoded sequences eclipsed nuclear entry of the core region, resulting in 4.1R isoforms that predominantly distributed to the cytoplasm. Exon 5 was also able to confer cytoplasmic localization to a nuclear reporter. In protein 4.1R isoforms, when exons 5 and 16 were both expressed the nuclear targeting effect of exon 16 was dominant to the inhibitory effect observed by the expression of exon 5, yielding proteins that predominantly localized to the nucleus. Taken together, these results indicate that all 4.1R molecules contain a conserved region that is sufficient to target the protein to the nucleus, but that specific exon-encoded sequences modulate this capacity by acting in a hierarchical order.