Characterization of Tissue-Specific and Developmentally Regulated Alternative Splicing of Exon 64 in the COL5A1 Gene

Abstract

The COL5A1 gene, a member of the clade B fibrillar collagen gene family, was recently shown to contain two alternatively spliced exons (64A and 64B) that encode 23 amino acids in the carboxyl-terminal propeptide. The two are identical in length, very similar in sequence, and used in a mutually exclusive fashion because of the small intron that separates them. Each COL5A1 allele uses both exons, but a given transcript will contain only one of the two exons. The sequences in other species are highly conserved at the amino acid level. The expression profile of the two isoforms was determined from analysis of RNA levels in a panel of murine tissues. While both isoforms were found in all tissues studied, actively proliferating tissues (liver, lung) used isoform B more often, while a less mitotically active tissue, brain, had a higher proportion of exon 64A. The high degree of conservation between the two exons is consistent with a regional genomic duplication. The presence of the two isoforms as far back as pufferfish (tetraodon) implies an important functional significance. The exact role determined by the two sequences is not known, but involvement in the determination of chain composition of mature type V collagen or regulation of cell activity is possible, given the differences in tissue distribution.

• type V collagen
• alternative splicing
• tissue distribution
• developmental expression profile

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Yongqui Doughman for dissecting the chick embryos and John Dunn for assistance with figures. This work was supported by grants AR21557, 2 T32 GM 007454-31, AR051444, and HD043376.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.