The mouse and human Liprin-alpha family of scaffolding proteins: genomic organization, expression profiling and regulation by alternative splicing.

Magdalena Zürner, Susanne Schoch

Department of Neuropathology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. magdalenazuerner@gmail.com

Genomics 2009 Mar

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In the nervous system the Liprin-alpha protein family plays an important role in the regulation of dendrite development, the targeting of photoreceptor axons, and the formation and structure of synapses. To gain a better understanding of Liprin-alpha regulation we have comparatively analyzed the genomic organization of the human and mouse Liprin-alpha genes, characterized the alternative exon use in human and mouse, and studied their expression in adult rodent tissues and brain regions. Our results show that Liprins-alpha1-4 share multiple properties in their genomic structure, exhibit an identical modular organization, and are highly conserved within certain structural domains, indicating strong evolutionary cohesion. We demonstrate that all Liprin-alpha genes are subject to alternative splicing, which is regulated in a developmental manner. Interestingly, regulation via alternative splicing is not conserved between isoforms and across species and represents a post-transcriptional mechanism to independently diversify the properties of the individual isoforms.

Citation

Magdalena Zürner, Susanne Schoch. The mouse and human Liprin-alpha family of scaffolding proteins: genomic organization, expression profiling and regulation by alternative splicing. Genomics. 2009 Mar;93(3):243-53