Two new splice variants in porcine PPARGC1A.
BACKGROUND
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1alpha (PPARGC1A) is a coactivator with a vital and central role in fat and energy metabolism. It is considered to be a candidate gene for meat quality in pigs and is involved in the development of obesity and diabetes in humans. How its many functions are regulated, is however still largely unclear. Therefore a transcription profile of PPARGC1A in 32 tissues and 4 embryonic developmental stages in the pig was constructed by screening its cDNA for possible splice variants with exon-spanning primers.


RESULTS
This led to the discovery of 2 new splice variants in the pig, which were subsequently also detected in human tissues. In these variants, exon 8 was either completely or partly (the last 66 bp were conserved) spliced out, potentially coding for a much shorter protein of respectively 337 and 359 amino acids (aa), of which the first 291 aa would be the same compared to the complete protein (796 aa).


CONCLUSIONS
Considering the functional domains of the PPARGC1A protein, it is very likely these splice variants considerably affect the function of the protein and alternative splicing could be one of the mechanisms by which the diverse functions of PPARGC1A are regulated.
Erkens
Tim
T
Department of Nutrition, Genetics and Ethology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Heidestraat 19, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium. luc.peelman@ugent.be.
Bilek
Karel
K
Van Zeveren
Alex
A
Peelman
Luc J
LJ