Dataset Information

Identifying RNA splicing factors using IFT genes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

ABSTRACT: Intraflagellar transport moves proteins in and out of flagella/cilia and it is essential for the assembly of these organelles. Using whole-genome sequencing, we identified splice site mutations in two IFT genes, IFT81 (fla9) and IFT121 (ift121-2), which lead to flagellar assembly defects in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii The splicing defects in these ift mutants are partially corrected by mutations in two conserved spliceosome proteins, DGR14 and FRA10. We identified a dgr14 deletion mutant, which suppresses the 3' splice site mutation in IFT81, and a frameshift mutant of FRA10, which suppresses the 5' splice site mutation in IFT121 Surprisingly, we found dgr14-1 and fra10 mutations suppress both splice site mutations. We suggest these two proteins are involved in facilitating splice site recognition/interaction; in their absence some splice site mutations are tolerated. Nonsense mutations in SMG1, which is involved in nonsense-mediated decay, lead to accumulation of aberrant transcripts and partial restoration of flagellar assembly in the ift mutants. The high density of introns and the conservation of noncore splicing factors, together with the ease of scoring the ift mutant phenotype, make Chlamydomonas an attractive organism to identify new proteins involved in splicing through suppressor screening.

SUBMITTER: Lin H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5881031 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Identifying RNA splicing factors using IFT genes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Lin Huawen H Zhang Zhengyan Z Iomini Carlo C Dutcher Susan K SK

Open biology 20180301 3

Intraflagellar transport moves proteins in and out of flagella/cilia and it is essential for the assembly of these organelles. Using whole-genome sequencing, we identified splice site mutations in two IFT genes, IFT81 (fla9) and IFT121 (ift121-2), which lead to flagellar assembly defects in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii The splicing defects in these ift mutants are partially corrected by mutations in two conserved spliceosom ...[more]

PMID: 29514868

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Project description:BackgroundGenome-wide computational analysis of alternative splicing (AS) in several flowering plants has revealed that pre-mRNAs from about 30% of genes undergo AS. Chlamydomonas, a simple unicellular green alga, is part of the lineage that includes land plants. However, it diverged from land plants about one billion years ago. Hence, it serves as a good model system to study alternative splicing in early photosynthetic eukaryotes, to obtain insights into the evolution of this process in plants, and to compare splicing in simple unicellular photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic eukaryotes. We performed a global analysis of alternative splicing in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using its recently completed genome sequence and all available ESTs and cDNAs.ResultsOur analysis of AS using BLAT and a modified version of the Sircah tool revealed AS of 498 transcriptional units with 611 events, representing about 3% of the total number of genes. As in land plants, intron retention is the most prevalent form of AS. Retained introns and skipped exons tend to be shorter than their counterparts in constitutively spliced genes. The splice site signals in all types of AS events are weaker than those in constitutively spliced genes. Furthermore, in alternatively spliced genes, the prevalent splice form has a stronger splice site signal than the non-prevalent form. Analysis of constitutively spliced introns revealed an over-abundance of motifs with simple repetitive elements in comparison to introns involved in intron retention. In almost all cases, AS results in a truncated ORF, leading to a coding sequence that is around 50% shorter than the prevalent splice form. Using RT-PCR we verified AS of two genes and show that they produce more isoforms than indicated by EST data. All cDNA/EST alignments and splice graphs are provided in a website at http://combi.cs.colostate.edu/as/chlamy.ConclusionsThe extent of AS in Chlamydomonas that we observed is much smaller than observed in land plants, but is much higher than in simple unicellular heterotrophic eukaryotes. The percentage of different alternative splicing events is similar to flowering plants. Prevalence of constitutive and alternative splicing in Chlamydomonas, together with its simplicity, many available public resources, and well developed genetic and molecular tools for this organism make it an excellent model system to elucidate the mechanisms involved in regulated splicing in photosynthetic eukaryotes.

Dataset Information

Identifying RNA splicing factors using IFT genes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Publications

Identifying RNA splicing factors using <i>IFT</i> genes in <i>Chlamydomonas reinhardtii</i>.

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