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Libraries enriched for alternatively spliced exons reveal splicing patterns in melanocytes and melanomas.

It is becoming increasingly clear that alternative splicing enables the complex development and homeostasis of higher organisms. To gain a better understanding of how splicing contributes to regulatory pathways, we have developed an alternative splicing library approach for the identification of alternatively spliced exons and their flanking regions by alternative splicing sequence enriched tags sequencing. Here, we have applied our approach to mouse melan-c melanocyte and B16-F10Y melanoma cell lines, in which 5,401 genes were found to be alternatively spliced. These genes include those encoding important regulatory factors such as cyclin D2, Ilk, MAPK12, MAPK14, RAB4, melastatin 1 and previously unidentified splicing events for 436 genes. Real-time PCR further identified cell line-specific exons for Tmc6, Abi1, Sorbs1, Ndel1 and Snx16. Thus, the ASL approach proved effective in identifying splicing events, which suggest that alternative splicing is important in melanoma development.

Alternative Splicing↗

A combinatorial role for exon, intron and splice site sequences in splicing in maize.

Plant introns are typically AU-rich or U-rich, and this feature has been shown to be important for splicing. In maize, however, about 20% of the introns exceed 50% GC, and most of them are efficiently spliced. A series of constructs has been designed to analyze the cis requirements for splicing of the GC-rich Bz2 maize intron and two other GC-rich intron derivatives. By manipulating exon, intron and splice site sequences it is shown that exons can play an important role in intron definition: changes in exon sequences can increase splicing efficiency of a GC-rich intron from 17% to 86%. The relative difference, or base compositional contrast, in GC and U content between exon and intron sequences in the vicinity of splice sites, rather than the absolute base-content of the intron or exons, correlates with splicing efficiency. It is also shown that GC-rich intron constructs that are poorly spliced can be partially rescued by an improved 3' splice site.

Base Sequence↗

Regulation of Ich-1 pre-mRNA alternative splicing and apoptosis by mammalian splicing factors.

The importance of alternative splicing in regulating apoptosis has been suggested by findings of functionally antagonistic proteins generated by alternative splicing of several genes involved in apoptosis. Among these, Ich-1 (also named as caspase-2) encodes a member of the caspase family of proteases. Two forms of Ich-1 are produced as a result of alternative splicing: Ich-1L, which causes apoptosis, and Ich-1S, which prevents apoptosis. The precise nature of Ich-1 alternative splicing and its regulation remain unknown. Here, we show that the production of Ich-1L and Ich-1S transcripts results from alternative exclusion or inclusion of a 61-bp exon. Several splicing factors can regulate Ich-1 splicing. Serine-arginine-rich proteins SC35 and ASF/SF2 promote exon skipping, decreasing the ratio of Ich-1S to Ich-1L transcripts; whereas heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 facilitates exon inclusion, increasing this ratio. Furthermore, in cultured cells, SC35 overexpression increases apoptosis; whereas heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 overexpression decreases apoptosis. These results provide the first direct evidence that splicing factors can regulate Ich-1 alternative splicing and suggest that alternative splicing may be an important regulatory mechanism for apoptosis.

Alternative Splicing↗

Identification of alternative splicing and negative splicing activity of a nonsegmented negative-strand RNA virus, Borna disease virus.

Borna disease virus (BDV) is a nonsegmented negative-strand RNA virus that belongs to the Mononegavirales. Unlike other animal viruses of this order, BDV replicates and transcribes in the nucleus of infected cells. Previous studies have shown that BDV uses RNA splicing machinery for its mRNA expression. In the present study, we identified spliced RNAs that use an alternative 3' splice site, SA3, in BDV-infected cell lines as well as infected animal brain cells. Transient transfection analysis of cDNA clones of BDV RNA revealed that although SA3 is a favorable splice site in mammalian cells, utilization of SA3 is negatively regulated in infected cells. This negative splicing activity of the SA3 site is regulated by a putative cis-acting region, the exon splicing suppressor (ESS), within the polymerase exon of BDV. The BDV ESS contains similar motifs to other known ESSs present in viral and cellular genes. Furthermore, our results indicated that a functional polyadenylation signal just upstream of the BDV ESS is also involved in the regulation of alternative splicing of BDV. These observations represent the first documentation of complex RNA splicing in animal RNA viruses and also provide new insight into the mechanism of regulation of alternative splicing in animal viruses.

Alternative Splicing↗

RNA trans-splicing in flatworms. Analysis of trans-spliced mRNAs and genes in the human parasite, Schistosoma mansoni.

Characteristics of trans-splicing in Schistosoma mansoni were examined to explore the significance and determinants of spliced leader (SL) addition in flatworms. Only a small subset of mRNAs acquire the SL. Analysis of 30 trans-spliced mRNAs and four genes revealed no discernable patterns or common characteristics in the genes, mRNAs, or their encoded proteins that might explain the functional significance of SL addition. While the mRNA encoding the glycolytic enzyme enolase is trans-spliced, mRNAs encoding four other glycolytic enzymes are not, indicating trans-splicing is not prevalent throughout this metabolic pathway. Although the 3' end of flatworm SLs contribute an AUG to mRNAs, the SL AUG does not typically serve to provide a methionine for translation initiation of reading frames in recipient mRNAs. SL RNA expression exhibits no apparent sex, tissue, or cell specificity. Trans-spliced genes undergo both cis- and trans-splicing, and the sequence contexts for these respective acceptor sites are very similar. These results suggest trans-splicing in flatworms is most likely associated either with some property conferred on recipient mRNAs by SL addition or related to some characteristic of the primary transcripts or transcription of trans-spliced genes.

Animals↗

Mutational analysis of 3' splice site selection during trans-splicing.

trans-Splicing is essential for mRNA maturation in trypanosomatids. A conserved AG dinucleotide serves as the 3' splice acceptor site, and analysis of native processing sites suggests that selection of this site is determined according to a 5'-3' scanning model. A series of stable gene replacement lines were generated that carried point mutations at or near the 3' splice site within the intergenic region separating CUB2.65, the calmodulin-ubiquitin associated gene, and FUS1, the ubiquitin fusion gene of Trypanosoma cruzi. In one stable line, the elimination of the native 3' splice acceptor site led to the accumulation of Y-branched splicing intermediates, which served as templates for mapping the first trans-splicing branch points in T. cruzi. In other lines, point mutations shifted the position of the first consensus AG dinucleotide either upstream or downstream of the wild-type 3' splice acceptor site in this intergenic region. Consistent with the scanning model, the first AG dinucleotide downstream of the branch points was used as the predominant 3' splice acceptor site. In all of the stable lines, the point mutations affected splicing efficiency in this region.

Animals↗

Usage of cryptic splice sites in citrullinemia fibroblasts suggests role of polyadenylation in splice-site selection during terminal exon definition.

Citrullinemia is a human genetic disease caused by a deficient argininosuccinate synthetase. In fibroblasts established from a citrullinemia patient with a mutation at the 3' splice site of the terminal intron of the gene, three cryptic 3' splice sites; i.e., SA1275, SA1636, and SA1663, residing on the terminal exon were activated. The usage of the cryptic sites showed a gradient, with the most downstream site having the highest usage; i.e., SA1663 > SA1636 > SA1275. However, when these cryptic sites were relocated to the internal exon, SA1636 was used the most. The splice-site strength of SA1636 was at least 10-fold higher than that of SA1663 in this situation. The results suggest that the preferential usage of SA1663 residing on the terminal exon may depend on its proximity to the poly(A) signal rather than on the strength of the splice site. Furthermore, when the strength of the downstream-most splice site increased, almost all the RNAs spliced to this site. However, in the presence of the wild-type splice site, all the RNAs were processed to the authentic site. Apparently, the selection of splice site can be revealed only when the sites being selected do not differ too much in their strength. By using a naturally occurring human mutant gene as a model, this study reveals that polyadenylation may play an important role in the selection of splice site during terminal exon definition.

Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors↗

SpliceHarmonization: an integrated method for identifying RNA splicing events in therapeutics for splicing modulation.

MOTIVATION: Splicing, a critical co-transcriptional process in eukaryotes, enhances transcriptome diversity by generating isoforms specific to cell types, tissues, or developmental stages. Recent advancements in splicing modulators have opened new avenues for targeting previously undruggable genes by inducing significant perturbations in splicing events. These developments underscore the need for comprehensive methods to accurately identify and compare splicing events. While several tools have been developed to detect local splice variants, inconsistencies across methods remain a significant challenge. To address this, we present SpliceHarmonization, an integrated approach that combines the strengths of rMATS, LeafCutter, and MAJIQ, enabling robust and reliable splicing analysis with event type annotations. RESULTS: In a comprehensive evaluation using diverse simulated datasets, SpliceHarmonization streamlined and standardized the outputs from three detection methods into a unified format, thereby improving splicing detection with event type annotation and outperforming individual methods. By integrating the outputs from rMATS, LeafCutter, and MAJIQ, our approach not only enhanced identification of a wide range of splicing events but also effectively mitigated method-specific discrepancies. This integration led to an accuracy exceeding 0.8 and a recall of up to 0.5, with an observed increase in AUC of up to 10%. Furthermore, SpliceHarmonization demonstrated high sensitivity in detecting low-abundance and complex splicing events, providing annotations including genomic coordinates and event type. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: SpliceHarmonization is available at https://github.com/interactivereport/SpliceHarmonization.

RNA Splicing↗

Expression of intron-containing C. elegans heat shock genes in mouse cells demonstrates divergence of 3' splice site recognition sequences between nematodes and vertebrates, and an inhibitory effect of heat shock on the mammalian splicing apparatus.

Splicing of a pair of intron-containing heat shock genes from Caenorhabditis elegans has been studied in transfected mouse cells. The hsp16-1 and hsp16-48 genes of C. elegans encode 16,000 Da heat shock polypeptides. Each gene contains a short intron of 52 (hsp16-1) or 55 (hsp16-48) base pairs. When these genes were introduced into mouse cells, they were efficiently induced following heat shock, but splicing of the introns was abnormal. In mouse cells, cleavage of the hsp16 transcripts occurred at the correct 5' splice sites, but the 3' splice sites were located at AG dinucleotides downstream of the correct sites. This aberrant splicing was not solely due to the small size of the C. elegans introns, since a hsp16-1 gene containing an intron enlarged by tandem duplication showed exactly the same splicing pattern. The mouse cells thus seem to be unable to recognize the natural 3' splice sites of the C. elegans transcripts. The efficiency of splicing was greatly reduced under heat shock conditions, and unspliced transcripts accumulated in the nucleus. During a subsequent recovery period at 37 degrees C, these transcripts were spliced and transported to the cytoplasm.

Animals↗

Interaction of the yeast splicing factor PRP8 with substrate RNA during both steps of splicing.

PRP8 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae interacts directly with pre-mRNA in spliceosomes, shown previously by UV-crosslinking. To analyse at which steps of splicing and with which precursor-derived RNA species the interaction(s) take place, UV-crosslinking was combined with PRP8-specific immunoprecipitation and the coprecipitated RNA species were analysed. Specific precipitation of intron-exon 2 and excised intron species was observed. PRP8 protein could be UV-crosslinked to pre-mRNA in PRP2-depleted spliceosomes stalled before initiation of the splicing reaction. Thus, the interaction of PRP8 protein with substrate RNA is established prior to the first transesterification reaction, is maintained during both steps of splicing and continues with the excised intron after completion of the splicing reaction. RNase T1 treatment of spliceosomes revealed that substrate RNA fragments of the 5' splice site region and the branchpoint-3' splice site region could be coimmunoprecipitated with PRP8 specific antibodies, indicating that these are potential sites of interaction for PRP8 protein with substrate RNA. Protection of the branch-point-3' splice site region was detected only after step 1 of splicing. The results allow a first glimpse at the pattern of PRP8 protein-RNA interactions during splicing and provide a fundamental basis for future analysis of these interactions.

Base Sequence↗

Discovery of novel splice forms and functional analysis of cancer-specific alternative splicing in human expressed sequences.

We report here a genome-wide analysis of alternative splicing in 2 million human expressed sequence tags (ESTs), to identify splice forms that are up-regulated in tumors relative to normal tissues. We found strong evidence (P < 0.01) of cancer-specific splice variants in 316 human genes. In total, 78% of the cancer-specific splice forms we detected are confirmed by human-curated mRNA sequences, indicating that our results are not due to random mis-splicing in tumors; 73% of the genes showed the same cancer-specific splicing changes in tissue-matched tumor versus normal datasets, indicating that the vast majority of these changes are associated with tumorigenesis, not tissue specificity. We have confirmed our EST results in an independent set of experimental data provided by human-curated mRNAs (P-value 10(-5.7)). Moreover, the majority of the genes we detected have functions associated with cancer (P-value 0.0007), suggesting that their altered splicing may play a functional role in cancer. Analysis of the types of cancer-specific splicing shifts suggests that many of these shifts act by disrupting a tumor suppressor function. Sur prisingly, our data show that for a large number (190 in this study) of cancer-associated genes cloned originally from tumors, there exists a previously uncharacterized splice form of the gene that appears to be predominant in normal tissue.

Alternative Splicing↗

A human protein required for the second step of pre-mRNA splicing is functionally related to a yeast splicing factor.

We have identified a human splicing factor required for the second step of pre-mRNA splicing. This new protein, hPrp18, is 30% identical to the yeast splicing factor Prp18. In HeLa cell extracts immunodepleted of hPrp18, the second step of pre-mRNA splicing is abolished. Splicing activity is restored by the addition of recombinant hPrp18, demonstrating that hPrp18 is required for the second step. The hPrp18 protein is bound tightly to the spliceosome only during the second step of splicing. hPrp18 is required for the splicing of several pre-mRNAs, making it the first general second-step splicing factor found in humans. Splicing activity can be restored to hPrp18-depleted HeLa cell extracts by yeast Prp18, showing that important functional regions of the proteins have been conserved. A 90-amino-acid region near the carboxyl terminus of hPrp18 is strongly homologous to yeast Prp18 and is also conserved in rice and nematodes. The homology identifies one region important for the function of both proteins and may define a new protein motif. In contrast to yeast Prp18, hPrp18 is not stably associated with any of the snRNPs. A 55-kD protein that cross-reacts with antibodies against hPrp18 is a constituent of the U4/U6 and U4/U6 x U5 snRNP particles.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Correct in vivo splicing of the mouse immunoglobulin kappa light-chain pre-mRNA is dependent on 5' splice-site position even in the absence of transcription.

In transcripts from the rearranged mouse immunoglobulin kappa light-chain locus, the intron separating the variable (V) plus joining (J) exon from the constant (C) exon contains up to three additional J regions, each with a functional 5' splice site. Previously, HeLa cells transfected with DNA encoding kappa light chains have been shown to mimic kappa-producing lymphocytes in splicing exclusively to the upstream-most 5' splice site, whereas selectivity is lost when kappa transcripts containing two more J regions are incubated in HeLa cell or lymphocyte nuclear extracts. Here we demonstrate that the fidelity of in vivo splicing depends on neither V-J rearrangement, the instability of erroneously splicing transcripts, nor a hierarchy of J-region 5' splice site utilization. Analysis of the splicing of presynthesized kappa transcripts injected into Xenopus oocytes demonstrates the correct 5' splice-site selection is independent of transcription. Implications for in vitro studies of regulated splice-site pairing are discussed.

Animals↗

An essential splicing factor, SLU7, mediates 3' splice site choice in yeast.

Recently, we have reported the identification of several genes that exhibit genetic interactions with the U5 snRNA. Two of these genes, SLU4 and SLU7 (SLU: synergistic lethal with U5 snRNA), encode products required for the second catalytic step of splicing. To analyze the specific roles of SLU4 and SLU7, we have determined how mutants influence the relative usage of competing 3' splice sites. We find that mutations in SLU7 eliminate the normal 20-fold preference for 3' splice sites located > 22 nucleotides downstream of the branchpoint. In contrast, mutations in SLU4 inhibit usage of all 3' splice sites, regardless of their location. This suggests that SLU7 is involved in the process of 3' splice site choice, whereas SLU4 fulfills a generic requirement for the second step. We show that SLU7 is an essential gene that contains a small motif with striking similarity to the cysteine-rich zinc knuckle of retroviral nucleocapsid proteins, which has been implicated in RNA binding. Mutational analysis of SLU7 indicates that this motif influences the efficiency, but not the sequence specificity, of 3' splice site selection. The identification of a component of the constitutive splicing machinery that can promote 3' splice site choice has potentially important implications for alternative splicing.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A novel pathway for alternative splicing: identification of an RNA intermediate that generates an alternative 5' splice donor site not present in the primary transcript of AMPD1.

AMP deaminase (AMPD) is a central enzyme in eucaryotic energy metabolism, and tissue-specific as well as stage-specific isoforms are found in many vertebrates. This study demonstrates the AMPD1 gene product in rat is alternatively spliced. The second exon, a 12-base miniexon, was found to be excluded or included in a tissue-specific and stage-specific pattern. This example of cassette splicing utilizes a unique pathway through an RNA intermediate that generates an alternative 5' splice donor site at the point where exon 2 is ligated to exon 1. In the analogous intermediate of human AMPD1, the potential 5' splice donor site created at the boundary of exon 1 and exon 2 was a poor substrate for splicing because of differences in exon 2 sequences, and human AMPD1 was not alternatively spliced. These results demonstrate that in some cases alternative splicing may proceed through an RNA intermediate that generates an alternative splice donor site not present in the primary transcript. Discrimination between alternative 5' splice donor sites in the RNA intermediate of AMPD1 is apparently controlled by tissue-specific and stage-specific signals.

AMP Deaminase↗

Nova regulates GABA(A) receptor gamma2 alternative splicing via a distal downstream UCAU-rich intronic splicing enhancer.

Nova is a neuron-specific RNA binding protein targeted in patients with the autoimmune disorder paraneoplastic opsoclonus-myoclonus ataxia, which is characterized by failure of inhibition of brainstem and spinal motor systems. Here, we have biochemically confirmed the observation that splicing regulation of the inhibitory GABA(A) receptor gamma2 (GABA(A)Rgamma2) subunit pre-mRNA exon E9 is disrupted in mice lacking Nova-1. To elucidate the mechanism by which Nova-1 regulates GABA(A)Rgamma2 alternative splicing, we systematically screened minigenes derived from the GABA(A)Rgamma2 and human beta-globin genes for their ability to support Nova-dependent splicing in transient transfection assays. These studies demonstrate that Nova-1 acts directly on GABA(A)Rgamma2 pre-mRNA to regulate E9 splicing and identify an intronic region that is necessary and sufficient for Nova-dependent enhancement of exon inclusion, which we term the NISE (Nova-dependent intronic splicing enhancer) element. The NISE element (located 80 nucleotides upstream of the splice acceptor site of the downstream exon E10) is composed of repeats of the sequence YCAY, consistent with previous studies of the mechanism by which Nova binds RNA. Mutation of these repeats abolishes binding of Nova-1 to the RNA in vitro and Nova-dependent splicing regulation in vivo. These data provide a molecular basis for understanding Nova regulation of GABA(A)Rgamma2 alternative splicing and suggest that general dysregulation of Nova's splicing enhancer function may underlie the neurologic defects seen in Nova's absence.

Alternative Splicing↗

Alternative splicing of protein 4.1R exon 16: ordered excision of flanking introns ensures proper splice site choice.

Alternative splicing plays a major role in regulating tissue-specific expression of cytoskeletal protein 4.1R isoforms. In particular, expression of the protein's functionally critical spectrin-actin binding domain, essential for maintenance of red cell membrane mechanical properties, is governed by a developmentally regulated splicing switch involving alternative exon 16. Using a model 3-exon 4.1R pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA), we explored the sequence requirements for excision of the introns flanking exon 16. These studies revealed that splicing of this alternative exon occurs preferentially in an ordered fashion. The first step is excision of the downstream intron to join exons 16 and 17, followed by excision of the upstream intron. Constructs designed to test the converse pathway were spliced less efficiently and with less fidelity, in part due to activation of a cryptic 5' splice site in exon 16. This downstream-first model for ordered splicing is consistent with the hypothesis that regulated alternative splicing requires cooperation between multiple exonic and/or intronic regulatory elements whose spatial organization is critical for recruitment of appropriate splicing factors. Our results predict that exon 16 splicing is regulated at the first step-excision of the downstream intron-and that cells unable to catalyze this step will exhibit exon 16 skipping. In cells that include exon 16, adherence to an ordered pathway is important for efficient and accurate production of mature 4.1R mRNA encoding an intact spectrin-actin binding domain. (Blood. 2000;95:692-699)

Alternative Splicing↗

Quantification analysis of splice signal sequences: mutation of 3'-splice signal sequence and mechanism of unsplicing in a beta-thalassemia pre-mRNA.

Strength of splice signal sequence plays an important role in mammalian pre-mRNA splicings. In the splicing of human beta-globin thalassemia pre-mRNA, a 25-nucleotide deletion covering the signal sequence at 3'-splice site of intron 1 causes unsplicing of intron 1, while splicing of intron 2 occurs normally. This gives abnormal mRNA and beta-thalassemia disease. If 3'-splice site of intron 1 is inactivated, two 5'-splice signals of introns 1 and 2 compete with each other for the 3'-splice site of intron 2. Our quantification analysis revealed that the 5'-splice signal of intron 2 is stronger than that of intron 1, explaining the mechanism for unsplicing of intron 1.

3' Untranslated Regions↗