Tra2betal regulates P19 neuronal differentiation and the splicing of FGF-2R and GluR-B minigenes

The present study demonstrates that the expression of Tra2beta1 (Transformer 2-beta1) proteins, an SR (serine/arginine rich) protein, is developmentally up-regulated in a neural-specific pattern. The up-regulation is also observed in RA (retinoic acid) induced neural differentiation of P19 cells. Tra2betal proteins are located in the nuclei of P19 cells, which are consistent with its functional site as an SR protein. The over-expression of Tra2betal proteins promotes RA induced neuronal differentiation of P19 cells. In P19 cells, the splicing of FGF-2R (fibroblast growth factor receptor 2) minigene produces the BEK form, while the alternative splicing of GluR-B (glutamate receptor subunit B) minigene generates two products, the Flop and the Truncated isoforms. Tra2betal inhibits the BEK splicing, but it promotes the Flop splicing. The results therefore suggest that Tra2betal is involved in the regulation of alternative splicing processes during neural development, peculiarly the splicing of FGF-2R and GluR-B genes. Both FGF-2R and GluR-B genes are known to play important roles in neural differentiation.