Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol.286, No.5, 1066-1072, 2001
Identification of splicing variants of frabin with partly different functions and tissue distribution
Frabin is a GDP/GTP exchange protein for Cdc42 small G protein with actin filament-binding activity. Frabin consists of the actin filament-binding domain, the Db1 homology domain, the first pleckstrin homology domain, the FYVE-finger domain, anal the second pleckstrin homology domain in this order from the N-terminus. Frabin forms filopodia through direct activation of Cdc42 and lamellipodia through indirect activation of Rac small G protein. We isolated here two smaller splicing variants of frabin and named the original one, middle-size one, and smallest one frabin-alpha, -beta, and -gamma, respectively. Frabin-beta lacked the second pleckstrin homology domain. and frabin-gamma lacked the FYVE-finger domain and the second pleckstrin homology domain. These three variants were expressed in all of the tissues examined but their expression levels are different depending on tissues. In L fibroblasts, all the three variants formed filopodia. As to lamellipodia, frabin-alpha formed them; frabin-beta formed them to a small extent; and frabin-gamma did not. In MDCK epithelial cells, frabin-a formed microspikes but frabin-beta or -gamma did not.