Characterization and expression of a heart-selective alternatively spliced variant of alpha II-spectrin, cardi+, during development in the rat.

ABSTRACT: Spectrin is a large, flexible protein that stabilizes membranes and organizes proteins and lipids into microdomains in intracellular organelles and at the plasma membrane. Alternative splicing occurs in spectrins, but it is not yet clear if these small variations in structure alter spectrin's functions. Three alternative splice sites have been identified previously for alpha II-spectrin. Here we describe a new alternative splice site, a 21-amino acid sequence in the 21st spectrin repeat that is only expressed in significant amounts in cardiac muscle (GenBank GQ502182). The insert, which we term alpha II-cardi+, results in an insertion within the high affinity nucleation site for binding of alpha-spectrins to beta-spectrins. To assess the developmental regulation of the alpha II-cardi+ isof

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3537504 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature