The choice between alternative IIIb and IIIc exons of the FGFR-3 gene is not strictly tissue-specific.

INSERM U 211, Institut de Biologie, Nantes, France.

An essential feature of fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFR) is the existence of multiple possibilities for alternative splicing. One of these concerns sequences of the mRNA coding for the C-terminal half of Ig domain 3 which corresponds to a part of the ligand-binding site. Two alternative exons, IIIb and IIIc, encode the C-terminal half of Ig domain 3. We show here that the alternative splicing choice between IIIb and IIIc exons of the FGFR-3 is not strictly tissue-specific: epithelial cells show exclusively IIIb transcripts while fibroblastic cells show a mixture of IIIb and IIIc transcripts. This is in contrast with the strictly exclusive alternative choice between IIIb or IIIc exons of the FGFR-2 gene: epithelial cells make only the IIIb choice while fibroblastic cells make only the IIIc choice.

PMID: 7495869 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]