Abstract
Alternative splicing plays a critical role in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), an essential cellular program that occurs in various physiological and pathological processes. Here we describe a strategy to detect alternative splicing during EMT using an inducible EMT model by expressing the transcription repressor Twist. EMT is monitored by changes in cell morphology, loss of E-cadherin localization at cell-cell junctions, and the switched expression of EMT markers, such as loss of epithelial markers E-cadherin and γ-catenin and gain of mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and vimentin. Using isoform-specific primer sets, the alternative splicing of interested mRNAs are analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR. The production of corresponding protein isoforms is validated by immunoblotting assays. The method of detecting splice isoforms described here is also suitable for the study of alternative splicing in other biological processes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | e51845 |
Journal | Journal of Visualized Experiments |
Issue number | 92 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 9 2014 |
Keywords
- Alternative splicing
- Cellular Biology
- EMT
- Issue 92
- Primer design
- RNA
- Real time PCR
- Splice isoforms
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemical Engineering
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
- General Immunology and Microbiology
- General Neuroscience