Competition between pre-mRNAs for a limiting splicing machinery drives global changes in splicing

ABSTRACT: During meiosis in yeast, global splicing efficiency increases. The mechanism for this is relief of competition for the splicing machinery by repression of intron-containing ribosomal protein genes (RPGs). Repression of RPGs with rapamycin also increases splicing efficiency in vegetative cells. Reducing levels of an RPG-dedicated transcription factor globally improves splicing and suppresses the temperature-sensitive growth defect of a spliceosome mutation. These results indicate that the spliceosome is limiting and pre-mRNAs compete with each other. Under these conditions, splicing efficiency of a given pre-mRNA therefore depends on both its concentration and affinity for the limiting splicing factor(s) as well as those of the competing pre-mRNAs. We propose that trans-competition control of splicing helps repress meiotic gene expression in vegetative cells, and promotes efficient meiosis. Competition between RNAs for a limiting factor may be a general condition important for function of a variety of post-transcriptional control mechanisms. Splicing and gene expression profiles of 1) wild type yeast cells treated with rapamycin (2 biological replicates) relative to untreated cells and 2) prp4-1 pGAL-IFH1 (down-regulated expression of IFH1 transcription factor(specific for ribosomal protein genes)) relative to prp4-1 yeast.

ORGANISM(S): Saccharomyces cerevisiae

SUBMITTER: Lily Shiue 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-44219 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress