The isoforms of TAU

There are 6 isoforms of tau expressed in the human central nervous system. These isoforms arise from the differential spicing of a single gene that is located on chromosome 17. The isoforms are differentiated from each other by the number of microtubule domains. Three isoforms (Htau 40, Htau 34 and Htau24) contain 4 microtubule binding domains; where as three isoforms (Htau 39, Htau 37 and Htau 23) contain three. The isoforms can be further differentiated by the presence of 0, 1 or 2 exons in the N-terminus of the molecule. Both the number of microtubule binding domains and the number of N-terminal inserts have an effect on the assembly properties of the tau molecule.

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References

J Neurochem 2000;74:1749–1757.