Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel human variant of RIC-3, a putative chaperone of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors

Tamara Seredenina (1) , Teresa Ferraro , Georg C Terstappen , Andrea Caricasole , Renza Roncarati

1 Neuroscience

Recent reports demonstrate that the RIC-3 protein is important for the maturation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. In the present work RIC-3e, a novel variant of RIC-3 is described. This variant carries a deletion of exons 4 and 5 resulting in a protein product lacking a conserved coiled-coil domain. Like RIC-3, the new variant is predominantly but not exclusively expressed in the brain. The analysis of expression of RIC-3 variants' mRNA and of α7-nAChR mRNA in a set of human tissues shows a similar profile. The RIC-3e protein is functionally active and enables surface expression of mature α7-nAChRs in cell lines otherwise not permissive for the expression of this receptor.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Tamara Seredenina, Teresa Ferraro, Georg C Terstappen, Andrea Caricasole, Renza Roncarati. Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel human variant of RIC-3, a putative chaperone of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Bioscience Reports, 2008, 28 (6), pp.299-306. ⟨10.1042/BSR20080055⟩. ⟨hal-00479301⟩