Human Disc large (DLG1) has been demonstrated to be involved in the control of cell polarity and maintenance of tissue architecture, and is frequently lost in human tumours. However, the mechanisms controlling DLG1 expression are poorly understood. To further examine the regulation of DLG1 expression, we analysed the 5' ends of DLG1 transcripts by rapid amplification of cDNA ends polymerase chain reaction. We identified an alternative splicing event in the 5' region of DLG1 mRNA that generates transcripts with two different 5' untranslated regions (5'-UTRs). We show by reporter assays that the DLG1 5'-UTR containing an alternatively spliced exon interferes with the translation of a downstream open reading frame (ORF). However, no significant differences in mRNA stability among the DLG1 5'-UTR variants were observed. Sequence analysis of the additional exon present in the larger DLG1 5'-UTR showed the presence of an upstream short ORF which is lost in the short version of the 5'-UTR DLG1. By mutagenesis and luciferase assays, we analysed the contribution of this upstream short ORF in reducing translation efficiency, and showed that its disruption can revert, to some extent, the negative regulation of large 5'-UTR. Using computational modelling we also show that the large DLG1 5'-UTR isoform forms a more stable structure than the short version, and this may contribute to its ability to repress translation. This represents the first analysis of the 5' region of the DLG1 transcripts and shows that differential expression of alternatively spliced 5'-UTRs with different translational properties could result in changes in DLG1 abundance.
© 2011 The Authors Journal compilation © 2011 FEBS.