Collagen alternative splicing

H. Yeh, N. Ornstein-Goldstein, Z. Indik, P. Sheppard, N. Anderson, J.C. Rosenbloom, G. Cicila, K. Yoon, and Rosenbloom, Sequence Variation of Bovine Elastin mRNA Due to Alternative Splicing. J. Collagen Rel. Res., 7, 235-247,1987. 

Appears to be widespread in low quantity, showing different forms because of a complex pattern of alternative splicing A fibril-associated collagen with an interrupted triple helix found in skin... 

Adapted from Albelda, S.M. and Buck, C.A., FASEB J. 4, 2868, 1990. With permission and Hynes, R.O. and Lander, A.D., Cell 68, 303, 1992. With permission. LM laminin, COL collagens, FN fibronectin, VN vitronectin, FB fibrinogen, VWF von Willebrand Factor, TSP thrombospondin, C3bi breakdown product of third component of complement, FN-alt alternatively spliced fibronectin. DGEA, RGD, REDV, PHSRN, and GPRP are amino acid sequences. 

Alternative sphcing at the 3 -end of the pre-mRNA yields three different mRNA transcripts (Figure 46.1), which encode proteins with distinct carboxyl termini (Soreq and Seidman, 2001). The synaptic form, AChE-S (also known as T for tailed ), is generated by splicing of exon 4 to exon 6. This is the dominant transcript in most tissues. AChE-S mRNA translation gives rise to a 40 amino acid C-terminal extension of the core AChE. This C-terminal peptide contains cysteine, which allows the formation of dimers and tetramers. These are able to further bind a cholinesterase-specific collagen tail (ColQ) unique to AChE in the NMJ (Massoulie, 2002) or a proline-rich membrane anchor (PRiMA) in the central nervous system (Perrier et al, 2002). Within the NMJ, interactions between the ColQ tails of two or three different tetrameric units and the two structural subunits generate an asymmetric AChE form and anchor it to the synapse (Massoulie, 2002). 

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