Tissue-Specific Expression of Neurexin-1α Isoforms in Rat Organs

— Neurexins are a family of synaptic adhesion proteins that play a key role in synapse formation and maintenance. Neurexins undergo extensive alternative splicing at six sites (SS1–SS6) resulting in expression of multiplicity of different isoforms. Alternative splicing regulates the functional activity of neurexins in different types of tissues and cells and presumably plays a key role in determining the specificity of the interaction of various neurons. In this study, we have investigated the pattern of tissue expression of neurexin-1α mRNA isoforms including an insert in the recently discovered splice site SS6 using TaqMan Real-Time PCR in different organs of Wistar rats. The isoform containing the insert in the SS6 site was found only in neural tissues suggesting its potential functional importance. Position of the SS6 insert in the hinge region between the LNS5 and LNS6 domains increases variability of possible conformations of the molecule which may represent an additional mechanism for regulating functional activity of the neurexin-1α in the brain.