Project description:There is good evidence for functional interactions between splicing and transcription in eukaryotes, but how and why these processes are coupled remain unknown. Prp5 is an RNA-stimulated ATPase required for pre-spliceosome formation in yeast. We demonstrate through in vivo RNA labelling that, in addition to a splicing defect, the prp5-1 mutation causes a defect in the transcription of intron-containing genes. We present chromatin immunoprecipitation evidence for a transcriptional elongation defect in which RNA polymerase that is phosphorylated at serine 5 of the largest subunit’s heptad repeat accumulates over introns, and that this defect requires the U2 snRNP-associated Cus2p. A similar accumulation of polymerase was observed when pre-spliceosome formation was blocked by a mutation in U2 snRNA. These results indicate the existence of a transcriptional elongation checkpoint that is associated with pre-spliceosome formation during co-transcriptional spliceosome assembly. We propose a role for Cus2p as a potential checkpoint factor in transcription. Examining the Pol II profile in MT strain and WT strain
Project description:There is good evidence for functional interactions between splicing and transcription in eukaryotes, but how and why these processes are coupled remain unknown. Prp5 is an RNA-stimulated ATPase required for pre-spliceosome formation in yeast. We demonstrate through in vivo RNA labelling that, in addition to a splicing defect, the prp5-1 mutation causes a defect in the transcription of intron-containing genes. We present chromatin immunoprecipitation evidence for a transcriptional elongation defect in which RNA polymerase that is phosphorylated at serine 5 of the largest subunit’s heptad repeat accumulates over introns, and that this defect requires the U2 snRNP-associated Cus2p. A similar accumulation of polymerase was observed when pre-spliceosome formation was blocked by a mutation in U2 snRNA. These results indicate the existence of a transcriptional elongation checkpoint that is associated with pre-spliceosome formation during co-transcriptional spliceosome assembly. We propose a role for Cus2p as a potential checkpoint factor in transcription.
Project description:Pre-mRNA splicing is vital for the proper function and regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used as a model organism for studies of RNA splicing because of the striking conservation of the spliceosome and its catalytic activity. Nonetheless, there are relatively few annotated alternative splice forms, particularly when compared to higher eukaryotes. Here, we describe a method to combine large scale RNA sequencing data to accurately discover novel splice isoforms in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using our method, we find extensive evidence for novel splicing of annotated intron-containing genes as well as genes without previously annotated introns and splicing of transcripts that are antisense to annotated genes. By incorporating several mutant strains at varied temperatures, we find conditions which lead to differences in alternative splice form usage. Despite this, every class and category of alternative splicing we find in our datasets is found, often at lower frequency, in wildtype cells under normal growth conditions. Together, these findings show that there is widespread splicing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Project description:Cyclin-dependent kinase 11 (CDK11) is essential for the regulation of pre-mRNA splicing via phosphorylation of the core spliceosome component SF3B1. This phosphorylation is a marker of the catalytically active spliceosomes thus it is important to identify the mechanisms that regulate CDK11 itself. Here, we report that a small subset of CDK11 is phosphorylated on the activation T-loop threonine 595 (Thr595) and is associated with the activated spliceosome on chromatin in gene bodies. Mutational analyses revealed that Thr595 is essential for the formation of the active CDK11 complex with cyclin L and SAP30BP. CDK11 transiently associates with CDK7, a transcriptional kinase that also promotes the activation of other CDKs. Inhibition of CDK7 initially decreases transcription, but longer durations of inhibition lead to production of unspliced pre-mRNAs. The onset of the CDK7-mediated splicing defect correlates with the sequential dephosphorylation of CDK11 Thr595 and SF3B1. SILAC-based phosphoproteomics upon brief CDK11 inhibition identified SF3B1, CDC5L and ESS2 as CDK11 substrates, which overlap with the previously identified CDK7 substrates in the spliceosome. In summary, our study suggests that CDK7 likely acts via CDK11 Thr595 phosphorylation to regulate pre-mRNA splicing in cells. The identification of additional CDK11 substrates points to its broader role in spliceosome regulation.
Project description:Cyclin-dependent kinase 11 (CDK11) is essential for the regulation of pre-mRNA splicing via phosphorylation of the core spliceosome component SF3B1. This phosphorylation is a marker of the catalytically active spliceosomes thus it is important to identify the mechanisms that regulate CDK11 itself. Here, we report that a small subset of CDK11 is phosphorylated on the activation T-loop threonine 595 (Thr595) and is associated with the activated spliceosome on chromatin in gene bodies. Mutational analyses revealed that Thr595 is essential for the formation of the active CDK11 complex with cyclin L and SAP30BP. CDK11 transiently associates with CDK7, a transcriptional kinase that also promotes the activation of other CDKs. Inhibition of CDK7 initially decreases transcription, but longer durations of inhibition lead to production of unspliced pre-mRNAs. The onset of the CDK7-mediated splicing defect correlates with the sequential dephosphorylation of CDK11 Thr595 and SF3B1. SILAC-based phosphoproteomics upon brief CDK11 inhibition identified SF3B1, CDC5L and ESS2 as CDK11 substrates, which overlap with the previously identified CDK7 substrates in the spliceosome. In summary, our study suggests that CDK7 likely acts via CDK11 Thr595 phosphorylation to regulate pre-mRNA splicing in cells. The identification of additional CDK11 substrates points to its broader role in spliceosome regulation.
Project description:Cyclin-dependent kinase 11 (CDK11) is essential for the regulation of pre-mRNA splicing by phosphorylating SF3B1, a core spliceosome component. This phosphorylation is a marker of the catalytically active spliceosome, so it is important to identify the mechanisms that regulate CDK11. Herein, we report that a small subset of CDK11 is phosphorylated on the activation T-loop threonine 595 (Thr595) and is associated with the activated spliceosome on chromatin in gene bodies. Mutational analyses revealed that Thr595 is essential for the formation of the active CDK11 complex with cyclin L and SAP30BP. CDK11 transiently associates with CDK7, a transcriptional kinase that also promotes the activation of other CDKs. The time course of the inhibition of CDK7 initially decreases transcription, but later produces unspliced pre-mRNAs. The dynamics of onset of the CDK7-mediated splicing defect correlates with the sequential dephosphorylation of CDK11 Thr595 and SF3B1. SILAC-based phospho-proteomics upon brief CDK11 inhibition identified SF3B1, CDC5L and ESS2 as CDK11 substrates, an overlap with the previously identified CDK7 substrates in the spliceosome. In summary, our study suggests that CDK7 likely acts via CDK11 Thr595 phosphorylation to regulate pre-mRNA splicing in cells. The identification of additional CDK11 substrates indicates its more complex role in spliceosome regulation.
Project description:Splicing regulatory networks are essential components of eukaryotic gene expression programs, yet little is known about how they are integrated with transcriptional regulatory networks into coherent gene expression programs. Here we define the MER1 splicing regulatory network and examine its role in the gene expression program during meiosis in budding yeast. Mer1p splicing factor promotes splicing of just four pre-mRNAs. All four Mer1p-responsive genes also require Nam8p for splicing activation by Mer1p, however other genes require Nam8p but not Mer1p, exposing an overlapping meiotic splicing network controlled by Nam8p. MER1 mRNA and three of the four Mer1p substrate pre-mRNAs are induced by the transcriptional regulator Ume6p. This unusual arrangement delays expression of Mer1p-responsive genes relative to other genes under Ume6p control. Products of Mer1p-responsive genes are required for initiating and completing recombination, and for activation of Ndt80p, the transcriptional network that controls subsequent steps in the program. Thus the MER1 splicing regulatory network mediates the dependent relationship between the UME6 and NDT80 transcriptional regulatory networks in the meiotic gene expression program. This work reveals how splicing regulatory networks can be interlaced with transcriptional regulatory networks in eukaryotic gene expression programs. This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Project description:In eukaryotes, a dynamic ribonucleic protein machine known as the spliceosome catalyzes the removal of introns from pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA). Recent studies show the process of RNA-synthesis and RNA-processing to be spatio-temporally coordinated, indicating that RNA splicing takes place in the context of chromatin. H2A.Z is a highly conserved histone variant of the canonical histone H2A. In S. cerevisiae, H2A.Z is deposited into chromatin by the SWR1-complex, is found near the 5’ ends of protein-coding genes, and has been implicated in transcription regulation. Here we show that splicing of intron-containing genes in cells lacking H2A.Z is impaired, particularly under suboptimal splicing conditions. Cells lacking H2A.Z are especially dependent on a functional U2 snRNP, as H2A.Z shows extensive genetic interactions with U2 snRNP associated proteins, and RNA-seq reveals introns with non-consensus branch points are particularly sensitive to H2A.Z loss. Consistently, H2A.Z promotes efficient spliceosomal rearrangements involving the U2 snRNP, as H2A.Z loss results in persistent U2 snRNP association and decreased recruitment of downstream snRNPs to nascent RNA. H2A.Z impairs transcription elongation, suggesting that spliceosome rearrangements are tied to H2A.Z’s role in elongation. Depletion of disassembly factor Prp43 suppresses H2A.Z-mediated splice defects, indicating that, in the absence of H2A.Z, stalled spliceosomes are disassembled and unspliced RNAs are released. Together these data demonstrate that H2A.Z is required for efficient pre-mRNA splicing and indicate a role for H2A.Z in coordinating the kinetics of transcription elongation and splicing.