The glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) gene is alternatively spliced to give GFAP-α, the most abundant isoform, and seven other differentially expressed transcripts including GFAP-δ. GFAP-δ has an altered C-terminal domain that renders it incapable of self-assembly in vitro. When titrated with GFAP-α, assembly was restored providing GFAP-δ levels were kept low (∼10%). In a range of immortalized and transformed astrocyte derived cell lines and human spinal cord, we show that GFAP-δ is naturally part of the endogenous intermediate filaments, although levels were low (∼10%). This suggests that GFAP filaments can naturally accommodate a small proportion of assembly-compromised partners. Indeed, two other assembly-compromised GFAP constructs, namely enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP)-tagged GFAP and the Alexander disease–causing GFAP mutant, R416W GFAP both showed similar in vitro assembly characteristics to GFAP-δ and could also be incorporated into endogenous filament networks in transfected cells, providing expression levels were kept low. Another common feature was the increased association of αB-crystallin with the intermediate filament fraction of transfected cells. These studies suggest that the major physiological role of the assembly-compromised GFAP-δ splice variant is as a modulator of the GFAP filament surface, effecting changes in both protein– and filament–filament associations as well as Jnk phosphorylation.
Plectin Regulates the Organization of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein in Alexander Disease
