Key result
Alternative splicing of the lev-11 tropomyosin gene in C. elegans is regulated in a tissue-specific manner, producing distinct isoforms in different tissues.
Alternative splicing of the lev-11 tropomyosin gene in C. elegans is regulated in a tissue-specific manner to express proper isoforms in particular cell types.
Tissue-specific lev-11 splicing extends isoform regulation knowledge; leaves open relevance to human cardiac tropomyosin function.
Tropomyosin isoforms contribute to generation of functionally divergent actin filaments. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, multiple isoforms are produced from lev-11, the single tropomyosin gene, by combination of two separate promoters and alternative pre-mRNA splicing. In this study, we report that alternative splicing of lev-11 is regulated in a tissue-specific manner so that a particular tropomyosin isoform is expressed in each tissue. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis of lev-11 mRNAs confirms five previously reported isoforms (LEV-11A, LEV-11C, LEV-11D, LEV-11E and LEV-11O) and identifies a new sixth isoform LEV-11T. Using transgenic alternative-splicing reporter minigenes, we find distinct patterns of preferential exon selections in the pharynx, body wall muscles, intestine and neurons. The body wall muscles preferentially process splicing to produce high-molecular-weight isoforms, LEV-11A, LEV-11D and LEV-11O. The pharynx specifically processes splicing to express a low-molecular-weight isoform LEV-11E, whereas the intestine and neurons process splicing to express another low-molecular-weight isoform LEV-11C. The splicing pattern of LEV-11T was not predominant in any of these tissues, suggesting that this is a minor isoform. Our results suggest that regulation of alternative splicing is an important mechanism to express proper tropomyosin isoforms in particular tissue and/or cell types in C. elegans.
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Watabe et al. (2018) studied this question. Alternative splicing of lev-11 was evaluated on Tissue-specific expression of tropomyosin isoforms. Alternative splicing of the lev-11 tropomyosin gene in C. elegans is regulated in a tissue-specific manner, producing distinct isoforms in different tissues.
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