Alternative 3′ UTR polyadenylation of Bzw1 transcripts display differential translation efficiency and tissue-specific expression

BZW1 is a conserved regulatory factor for transcriptional control of histone H4 gene at the G1/S transition. In this study, three Bzw1 transcripts were identified in mice with two long forms (∼2.9 kb) expressed ubiquitously at low level, and a short transcript of 1.8 kb expressed at high level exclusively in testis. These different transcripts share the same 5′ UTR and coding sequence, but differ in the length of 3′ UTR by utilizing alternative polyadenylation sites. Different translation efficiencies were observed in the cells transfected with chimeric EGFP-Bzw1 genes tailed with different 3′ UTRs. Our results demonstrate that Bzw1 transcripts are alternatively polyadenylated and expressed in tissue-specific pattern.