Developmentally induced, muscle-specific trans factors control the differential splicing of alternative and constitutive troponin T exons.

Alternative RNA splicing is a ubiquitous process permitting single genes to encode multiple protein isoforms. Here we report experiments in which a gene construct, containing combinatorial Troponin T (TnT) exons that manifest an exceptional diversity of alternative splicing in vivo, has been transfected into muscle and nonmuscle cells. Analyses of the spliced RNAs show that the alternative TnT exons retain their capacity for differential splicing in the modified minigene context when introduced into a variety of nonmuscle and muscle cells. The patterns of alternative splicing differ depending on cell type. Only in differentiated myotubes are the alternative exons normally incorporated during splicing, reproducing their behavior in the native gene; they are excluded in nonmuscle cells and myoblasts that do not express the endogenous TnT. These results provide proof that trans factors required for correct alternative splicing are induced during myogenesis. Surprisingly, such factors are also required for the correct splicing of constitutive TnT exons.