Tau gene

This cartoon describes the production of the 6 tau isoforms found in the adult brain tissue from humans.

1. Tau gene is located on chromosome 17.
2. In the central nervous system,  six different  mRNA of tau are produced by alternative splicing.
3. Then six different Tau  proteins, six "isoforms" are produced
4. Tau proteins are different in that they have or not the peptidic regions translated from exons 2, 3 and 10.
5. There are 3 isoforms with the peptidic region of exon 10 (10+)
6. There are 3 isoforms without the peptidic region of exon 10 (10-)
7. The peptidic region of exon 10 corresponds to a forth repeated region (R), that interacts with tubulin dimers, the basic components of microtubules. There are 3 isoforms 3R and 3 isoforms 4R.
8.