Alternative Isoforms of TonEBP with Variable N-termini are Expressed in Mammalian Cells

ABSTRACT

Hypertonicity imposes a great deal of stress to cells since it causes rise in cellular ionic strength, which can be reduced by the accumulation of compatible osmolytes. TonEBP plays a central role in the cellular accumulation of compatible osmolytes via transcriptional stimulation of membrane transporters and aldose reductase. Alternatively spliced forms of TonEBP mRNA have previously been reported and two of them showed different transcriptional activity. In the present study, isoform-specific antibodies were produced to confirm the translation of the spliced mRNA to protein. TonEBP was immunoprecipitated by using anti-TonEBP antibody and then immunoblotted using anti-TonEBP or isoform specific antibodies to find out the expression profile of TonEBP isoforms in basal or stimulated condition. From these results, we conclude that all TonEBP isoforms are expressed in mammalian cells and their expression patterns are not same in every cells.