SRSF9-Mediated Exon Recognition Promotes Exon 2 Inclusion in Mecp2 Pre-mRNA Alternative Splicing

Alternative splicing is one of the processes that contributes to producing a vast protein diversity from the limited number of protein-coding genes in higher eukaryotes. The Methyl CpG Binding Protein 2 (Mecp2) gene, whose mutations cause Rett syndrome, generates two protein isoforms, MeCP2E1 and MeCP2E2, by alternative splicing. These isoforms likely possess non-redundant functions. However, the molecular mechanism for Mecp2 pre-mRNA alternative splicing remains to be understood. Here, we analyzed the alternative splicing mechanism of MeCP2 pre-mRNA and found that exon 2 is efficiently recognized through adjacent strong splice sites. In addition, exonic splicing enhancer (ESE) in exon 2 plays an important role in exon 2 inclusion, which is highly likely to be mediated by SRSF9.