different splice variants - same protein (Oct/21/2008 )

Hi,

I'm a bit confused on splice variants. The gene I'm studying encodes 3 variants but each of these variats encodes eh same protein.

If alternative splicing of a gene results in multiple transcript variants encoding the same protein, then what is the funcional significance of each splice variant? Is it post translational modifications e.g. glycosylation etc?

Thanks

You are right. For instance, if different variants have different 3UTR or different size of 3UTR, the protein can be differently regulated by miRNAs.