Hsu T, Gogos J A, Kirsh S A, Kafatos F C
Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Science. 1992 Sep 25;257(5078):1946-50. doi: 10.1126/science.1411512.
Transcripts encoding the Drosophila putative transcription factor CF2 are subject to developmentally regulated alternative splicing, and they encode protein isoforms that differ in the number of zinc fingers. One testis-specific RNA encodes an isoform that includes three zinc fingers and a frame-shifted segment. Two other transcripts encode isoforms with six and seven zinc fingers which bind to distinct promoters and DNA target sequences. Thus, because of alternative splicing, a single gene appears to encode distinct DNA-binding proteins, each capable of regulating different gene sets in different tissues and developmental periods.
