Gene isoforms are

mRNAs In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of synthesizing a protein. mRNA is created during the p ...

that are produced from the same

locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

but are different in their

transcription start site Transcription is the process of copying a segment of DNA into RNA. The segments of DNA transcribed into RNA molecules that can encode proteins are said to produce messenger RNA (mRNA). Other segments of DNA are copied into RNA molecules called ...

s (TSSs), protein coding DNA sequences (CDSs) and/or

untranslated region In molecular genetics, an untranslated region (or UTR) refers to either of two sections, one on each side of a coding sequence on a strand of mRNA. If it is found on the 5' side, it is called the 5' UTR (or leader sequence), or if it is foun ...

s (UTRs), potentially altering

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

function.

Cis-regulatory element ''Cis''-regulatory elements (CREs) or ''Cis''-regulatory modules (CRMs) are regions of non-coding DNA which regulate the transcription of neighboring genes. CREs are vital components of genetic regulatory networks, which in turn control morphoge ...

s in the promoter contain sequences recognized by

transcription factor In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The fu ...

s and the basal transcription machinery. So the location of the TSS is important for understanding the biogenesis of specific isoforms. The idea that different binding partners confer different functional properties has been well studied in tissue-specific gene regulation. For example, the same transcription factor (TF) can direct gene expression in different tissues simply by binding with different TSSs in each tissue. Isoforms harboring changes in the CDS have been the most thoroughly characterized because they commonly give rise to proteins with different functional properties. UTRs regulate the levels of primary transcript in numerous ways: transcript stability, folding and turnover, as well as translation efficiency. UTRs are often the target of

miRNA MicroRNA (miRNA) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules containing 21 to 23 nucleotides. Found in plants, animals and some viruses, miRNAs are involved in RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. miRN ...

, which typically downregulate transcript expression by triggering degradation or halting translation. The gene isoforms can be sequenced by Whole Transcriptome Shotgun Sequencing (

RNA-Seq RNA-Seq (named as an abbreviation of RNA sequencing) is a sequencing technique which uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) to reveal the presence and quantity of RNA in a biological sample at a given moment, analyzing the continuously changing c ...

). Recently some progress has been made to characterize known isoforms of regeneration associated genes (RAGs) using RNA-Seq, which is important in understanding the isoform diversity in the CNS.

Examples

ATF3

Activating transcription factor 3 (

Atf3 Cyclic AMP-dependent transcription factor ATF-3 is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''ATF3'' gene. Function Activating transcription factor 3 is a member of the mammalian activation transcription factor/cAMP responsive element-bind ...

) is a known RAG with numerous promoters. Atf3 expression increases after nerve injury and overexpression of a constitutively active form of Atf3 increases the rate of peripheral nerve regeneration. Four Atf3 isoforms were identified in

dorsal root ganglia A dorsal root ganglion (or spinal ganglion; also known as a posterior root ganglion) is a cluster of neurons (a ganglion) in a dorsal root of a spinal nerve. The cell bodies of sensory neurons known as first-order neurons are located in the do ...

(DRG) so far. These four isoforms differ in TSS, and one differs in the CDS. However it is unclear which promoters are in use in regenerating DRG neurons.

PTEN

Phosphatase and tensin homolog ( Pten) is originally identified as a tumor suppressor gene. Recent studies found that Pten also suppressed axon regeneration in

retinal ganglion cells A retinal ganglion cell (RGC) is a type of neuron located near the inner surface (the ganglion cell layer) of the retina of the eye. It receives visual information from photoreceptors via two intermediate neuron types: bipolar cells and retina ...

corticospinal tract The corticospinal tract is a white matter motor pathway starting at the cerebral cortex that terminates on lower motor neurons and interneurons in the spinal cord, controlling movements of the limbs and trunk. There are more than one million neur ...

, and DRG neurons. So far 3 Pten isoforms (Pten, PtenJ1, and Pten J2) have been identified and analyzed. Pten J1 is identical in sequence to the conventional Pten isoform except for a difference in TSS and a small shift in the CDS. Pten J2 has a truncated CDS, an alternative transcription start site and a longer 3’ UTR compared to the conventional Pten isoform expressed within neurons. The truncated CDS encodes a protein that lacks a phosphate domain. Also, overexpression of Pten J2 and Pten in primary cortical neurons does not influence axon regeneration. So it’s hypothesized that Pten J2 works as regulatory RNA to inhibit the activity of Pten.

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=35em RNA

Examples

ATF3

PTEN

See also

References