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. 2015 Nov 13;16(11):27171–27190. doi: 10.3390/ijms161126017

Figure 6.

Figure 6

Alternative splicing of Bnip3 and the function of the resulting isoforms. Bnip3 translation and expression is induced by hypoxia, with the alternate splicing of pre-mRNA to produce two isoforms, Bnip3FL and Bnip3Δex3. Bnip3Δex3 splice variant lacks both the BH3 and TM domains and is able to promote cell survival by heterodimerizing with BnipFL, preventing it from associating with the mitochondrial membrane. Generally, it is not fully understood how the alternate splicing of Bnip3 is controlled, but it is suspected that JNK signaling up-regulates apoptosis and BnipFL expression via the FOXO3a transcription factor.