The epithelial splicing factors ESRP1 and ESRP2 positively and negatively regulate diverse types of alternative splicing events

CC Warzecha, S Shen, Y Xing, RP Carstens - RNA biology, 2009 - Taylor & Francis
CC Warzecha, S Shen, Y Xing, RP Carstens
RNA biology, 2009Taylor & Francis
Cell-type and tissue-specific alternative splicing events are regulated by combinatorial
control involving both abundant RNA binding proteins as well as those with more discrete
expression and specialized functions. Epithelial Splicing Regulatory Proteins 1 and 2
(ESRP1 and ESRP2) are recently discovered epithelial-specific RNA binding proteins that
promote splicing of the epithelial variant of the FGFR2, ENAH, CD44, and CTNND1
transcripts. To cataloge a larger set of splicing events under the regulation of the ESRPs we …
Cell-type and tissue-specific alternative splicing events are regulated by combinatorial control involving both abundant RNA binding proteins as well as those with more discrete expression and specialized functions.  Epithelial Splicing Regulatory Proteins 1 and 2 (ESRP1 and ESRP2) are recently discovered epithelial-specific RNA binding proteins that promote splicing of the epithelial variant of the FGFR2, ENAH, CD44, and CTNND1 transcripts.  To cataloge a larger set of splicing events under the regulation of the ESRPs we profiled splicing changes induced by RNA interference-mediated knockdown of ESRP1 and ESRP2 expression in a human epithelial cell line using the splicing sensitive Affymetrix Exon ST1.0 Arrays.  Analysis of the microarray data resulted in the identification of over a hundred candidate ESRP regulated splicing events.  We were able to independently validate 37 of these targets by RT-PCR.  The ESRP regulated events encompass all known types of alternative splicing events, most prominent being alternative cassette exons and splicing events leading to alternative 3’ terminal exons.  Importantly, a number of these regulated splicing events occur in gene transcripts that encode proteins with well-described roles in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton organization, cell-cell adhesion, cell polarity, and cell migration.  In sum, this work reveals a novel list of transcripts differentially spliced in epithelial and mesenchymal cells, implying that coordinated alternative splicing plays a critical role in determination of cell type identity.  These results further establish ESRP1 and ESRP2 as global regulators of an epithelial splicing regulatory network.
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