Taxonomic distribution of proteins containing DRY_EERY domains

The tree below includes only several representative species and genera. The complete taxonomic breakdown of all proteins containing DRY_EERY domains can be accessed here. Click the counts or percentage values to display the corresponding proteins.

Conservation of regulated alternative splicing and identification of functionaldomains in vertebrate homologs to the Drosophila splicing regulator,suppressor-of-white-apricot.

Denhez F, Lafyatis R
J Biol Chem. 1994; 269: 16170-9

Although several splicing regulatory proteins have been identified in Drosophila through characterization of various genetic mutations, including sex-lethal,transformer, transformer-2, suppressor-of-white-apricot (su(wa)), and possiblysuppressor-of-sable, none of these have been identified in vertebrates. Wedescribe the cloning and characterization of human (HsSWAP) and mouse (MmSWAP)homologs of the su(wa) gene. Comparison of the Drosophila and mammalian proteins reveals five highly homologous regions, including an arginine/serine-rich domain and two repeated modules that are homologous to regions in the constitutivesplicing factor, SPP91/PRP21. These modules thus define a new motif likelyimportant in the regulatory and constitutive splicing functions of theseproteins. The Drosophila su(wa) gene autoregulates its expression by control ofsplicing of its first two introns. Comparison of mammalian and Drosophila SWAPmRNAs revealed that the splice junctions of these regulated introns are preciselyconserved, showing definitively that these genes are ancestrally related.Moreover, mammalian SWAP mRNAs are also alternatively spliced at the same splice sites, showing that mammalian SWAP expression is regulated (presumablyautogenously) by control of splicing of these two introns. These severalstructural features therefore strongly suggest that the mammalian SWAP genefunctions as a vertebrate alternative splicing regulator.