Minireview: Polypyrimidine tract binding protein antagonizes exon definition

E. J. Wagner, M. A. Garcia-Blanco

Research output: Contribution to journalShort surveypeer-review

308 Scopus citations

Abstract

PTB appears to be a global repressor of weak or regulated exons. We propose here that PTB multimerization sequesters these exons to prevent exon definition. This is likely critical not only to prevent inclusion of pseudo-exons but also to set up cell-type-specific exon definition. What remains unclear about PTB can probably be broken down into two basic questions. First, what is the precise mechanism of repression? Second, how is this mechanism circumvented? Most of the research to resolve the first question has focused primarily on identifying instances of PTB repression but has done little to understand how that repression is achieved. Recently, both in vivo and in vitro assays for PTB repression have been developed (8, 65); thus, a detailed structure-function analysis can be done. Information from this approach may address mechanistic questions such as if PTB multimerization is required for repression or if there are PTB cofactors. Understanding how this repression is lifted will probably be a more complicated issue. Overwhelming PTB may occur by numerous mechanisms, such as strengthening weak splice sites via activators such as TIA-1 (18), causing the enhancement of inclusion via a tissue-specific expression of antagonizing RNA-binding proteins, or simply by modulating the expression of a PTB cofactor.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3281-3288
Number of pages8
JournalMolecular and cellular biology
Volume21
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2001
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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