THE GENE ENCODING HUMAN SPLICING FACTOR 9G8 - STRUCTURE, CHROMOSOMAL LOCALIZATION, AND EXPRESSION OF ALTERNATIVELY PROCESSED TRANSCRIPTS

The 9G8 factor is a 30-kDa member of the SR splicing factor family. We report here the isolation and characterization of the human 9G8 gene. This gene spans 7745 nucleotides and consists of 8 exons and 7 introns within the coding sequence, thus contrasting with the organization of the SC35/PR264 or RBP1 SR genes. We have located the human 9G8 gene in the p22-21 region of chromosome 2. The 5'-flanking region is GC-rich and contains basal promoter sequences and potential regulatory elements. Transfection experiments show that the 400-base pair flanking sequence has a promoter activity. Northern blot analysis of poly(A)(+) RNA isolated from human fetal tissues has allowed us to identify five different species, generated by alternative splicing of intron 3, which may be retained or excised as a shorter version, as well as the use of two polyadenylation sites. We also show that the different isoforms are differentially expressed in the fetal tissues. The persistence of sequences between exon 3 and 4 results in the synthesis of a 9G8 protein lacking the SR domain which is expected to be inactive in constitutive splicing. Thus, our results raise the possibility that alternative splicing of intron 3 provides a mechanism for modulation of the 9G8 function.