title: Identification of Ank(G107), a muscle-specific ankyrin-G isoform.
abstract: We previously showed that alternatively spliced ankyrins-G, the Ank3 gene products, are expressed in skeletal muscle and localize to the postsynaptic folds and to the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Here we report the molecular cloning, tissue expression, and subcellular targeting of Ank(G107), a novel ankyrin-G from rat skeletal muscle. Ank(G107) lacks the entire ANK repeat domain and contains a 76-residue sequence near the COOH terminus. This sequence shares homology with COOH-terminal sequences of ankyrins-R and ankyrins-B, including the muscle-specific skAnk1. Despite widespread tissue expression of Ank3, the 76-residue sequence is predominantly detected in transcripts of skeletal muscle and heart, including both major 8- and 5.6-kb mRNAs of skeletal muscle. In 15-day-old rat skeletal muscle, antibodies against the 76-residue sequence localized to the sarcolemma and to the postsynaptic membrane and cross-reacted with three endogenous ankyrins-G, including one 130-kDa polypeptide that comigrated with in vitro translated Ank(G107). In adult muscle, these polypeptides appeared significantly decreased, and immunofluorescence labeling was no more detectable. Green fluorescent protein-tagged Ank(G107) transfected in primary cultures of rat myotubes was targeted to the plasma membrane. Deletion of the 76-residue insert resulted in additional cytoplasmic labeling suggestive of a reduced stability of Ank(G107) at the membrane. Recruitment of the COOH-terminal domain to the membrane was much less efficient but still possible only in the presence of the 76-residue insert. We conclude that the 76-residue sequence contributes to the localization and is essential to the stabilization of Ank(G107) at the membrane. These results suggest that tissue-dependent and developmentally regulated alternative processing of ankyrins generates isoforms with distinct sequences, potentially involved in specific protein-protein interactions during differentiation of the sarcolemma and, in particular, of the postsynaptic membrane.
authors.affiliation: Biologie Cellulaire des Membranes, Département de Biologie Cellulaire, Institut Jacques Monod, UMR 7592, CNRS/Universités Paris 6 et Paris 7, 2 place Jussieu, 75251 Paris-Cédex 05, France.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gagelin
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Constantin
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deprette
authors.forename: Marie-Aline
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ludosky
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Recouvreur
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cartaud
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cognard
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Raymond
authors.forename: Ekaterini
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kordeli
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017487:Ankyrins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D051381:Rats; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C490614:Ank3 protein, rat; D017487:Ankyrins; D018076:DNA, Complementary