Position-dependent splicing activation and repression by SR and hnRNP proteins rely on common mechanisms

Genomic HEXploring allows landscaping of novel potential splicing regulatory elements

Effective splice site selection is critically controlled by flanking splicing regulatory elements (SREs) that can enhance or repress splice site use. Although several computational algorithms currently identify a multitude of potential SRE motifs, their predictive power with respect to mutation effects is limited. Following a RESCUE-type approach, we defined a hexamer-based ‘HEXplorer score’ as average Z-score of all six hexamers overlapping with a given nucleotide in an arbitrary genomic sequence. Plotted along genomic regions, HEXplorer score profiles varied slowly in the vicinity of splice sites. They reflected the respective splice enhancing and silencing properties of splice site neighborhoods beyond the identification of single dedicated SRE motifs. In particular, HEXplorer score differences between mutant and reference sequences faithfully represented exonic mutation effects on splice site usage. Using the HIV-1 pre-mRNA as a model system highly dependent on SREs, we found an excellent correlation in 29 mutations between splicing activity and HEXplorer score. We successfully predicted and confirmed five novel SREs and optimized mutations inactivating a known silencer. The HEXplorer score allowed landscaping of splicing regulatory regions, provided a quantitative measure of mutation effects on splice enhancing and silencing properties and permitted calculation of the mutationally most effective nucleotide.

The PI3K pathway acting on alternative HIV-1 pre-mRNA splicing

HIV-1 mediates pro-survival signals and prevents apoptosis via the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway. This pathway, however, also affects phosphorylation of serine-arginine (SR) proteins, a family of splicing regulatory factors balancing splice site selection. We now show that pharmacologic inhibition of PI3K signalling alters the HIV-1 splicing pattern of both minigene- and provirus-derived mRNAs. This indicates that HIV-1 might also promote PI3K signalling to balance processing of its transcripts by regulating phosphorylation of splicing regulatory proteins.

The translational landscape of the splicing factor SRSF1 and its role in mitosis

The shuttling Serine/Arginine rich (SR) protein SRSF1 (previously known as SF2/ASF) is a splicing regulator that also activates translation in the cytoplasm. In order to dissect the gene network that is translationally regulated by SRSF1, we performed a high-throughput deep sequencing analysis of polysomal fractions in cells overexpressing SRSF1. We identified approximately 1,500 mRNAs that are translational targets of SRSF1. These include mRNAs encoding proteins involved in cell cycle regulation, such as spindle, kinetochore and M phase proteins, which are essential for accurate chromosome segregation. Indeed, we show that translational activity of SRSF1 is required for normal mitotic progression. Furthermore, we found that mRNAs that display alternative splicing changes upon SRSF1 overexpression are also its translational targets; strongly suggesting that SRSF1 couples pre-mRNA splicing and translation. These data provide insights on the complex role of SRSF1 in the control of gene expression at multiple levels and its implications in cancer.

Kinetic analysis of in vitro pre-mRNA splicing in HeLa nuclear extract

Kinetic analysis of in vitro splicing is a valuable technique for understanding splicing regulation. It allows the determination of specific contributions from functional elements for the efficient removal of introns. This chapter will describe the rationale and approach employed to use kinetic analysis to evaluate an in vitro splicing reaction using radiolabeled pre-mRNA incubated in splicing-competent HeLa nuclear extract (NE).

Neuronal-specific deficiency of the splicing factor Tra2b causes apoptosis in neurogenic areas of the developing mouse brain

Alternative splicing (AS) increases the informational content of the genome and is more prevalent in the brain than in any other tissue. The splicing factor Tra2b (Sfrs10) can modulate splicing inclusion of exons by specifically detecting GAA-rich binding motifs and its absence causes early embryonic lethality in mice. TRA2B has been shown to be involved in splicing processes of Nasp (nuclear autoantigenic sperm protein), MAPT (microtubule associated protein tau) and SMN (survival motor neuron), and is therefore implicated in spermatogenesis and neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease and spinal muscular atrophy. Here we generated a neuronal-specific Tra2b knock-out mouse that lacks Tra2b expression in neuronal and glial precursor cells by using the Nestin-Cre. Neuronal-specific Tra2b knock-out mice die immediately after birth and show severe abnormalities in cortical development, which are caused by massive apoptotic events in the ventricular layers of the cortex, demonstrating a pivotal role of Tra2b for the developing central nervous system. Using whole brain RNA on exon arrays we identified differentially expressed alternative exons of Tubulinδ1 and Shugoshin-like2 as in vivo targets of Tra2b. Most interestingly, we found increased expression of the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 1a (p21) which we could functionally link to neuronal precursor cells in the affected brain regions. We provide further evidence that the absence of Tra2b causes p21 upregulation and ultimately cell death in NSC34 neuronal-like cells. These findings demonstrate that Tra2b regulates splicing events essential for maintaining neuronal viability during development. Apoptotic events triggered via p21 might not be restricted to the developing brain but could possibly be generalized to the whole organism and explain early embryonic lethality in Tra2b-depleted mice.

Regulation of alternative pre-mRNA splicing

Alternative splicing plays a prevalent role in generating functionally diversified proteomes from genomes with a more limited repertoire of protein-coding genes. Alternative splicing is frequently regulated with cell type or developmental specificity and in response to signaling pathways, and its mis-regulation can lead to disease. Co-regulated programs of alternative splicing involve interplay between a host of cis-acting transcript features and trans-acting RNA-binding proteins. Here, we review the current state of understanding of the logic and mechanism of regulated alternative splicing and indicate how this understanding can be exploited to manipulate splicing for therapeutic purposes.

Pressure-overload cardiac hypertrophy is associated with distinct alternative splicing due to altered expression of splicing factors

Chronic pressure-overload cardiac hypertrophy is associated with an increased risk of morbidity/mortality, largely due to maladaptive remodeling and dilatation that progresses to dilated cardiomyopathy. Alternative splicing is an important biological mechanism that generates proteomic complexity and diversity. The recent development of next-generation RNA sequencing has improved our understanding of the qualitative signatures associated with alternative splicing in various biological conditions. However, the role of alternative splicing in cardiac hypertrophy is yet unknown. The present study employed RNA-Seq and a bioinformatic approach to detect the RNA splicing regulatory elements involved in alternative splicing during pressure-overload cardiac hypertrophy. We found GC-rich exonic motifs that regulate intron retention in 5' UTRs and AT-rich exonic motifs that are involved in exclusion of the AT-rich elements that cause mRNA instability in 3' UTRs. We also identified motifs in the intronic regions involved in exon exclusion and inclusion, which predicted splicing factors that bind to these motifs. We found, through Western blotting, that the expression levels of three splicing factors, ESRP1, PTB and SF2/ASF, were significantly altered during cardiac hypertrophy. Collectively, the present results suggest that chronic pressure-overload hypertrophy is closely associated with distinct alternative splicing due to altered expression of splicing factors.

Make yourself at home: viral hijacking of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

As viruses do not possess genes encoding for proteins required for translation, energy metabolism or membrane biosynthesis, they are classified as obligatory intracellular parasites that depend on a host cell to replicate. This genome limitation forces them to gain control over cellular processes to ensure their successful propagation. A diverse spectrum of virally encoded proteins tackling a broad spectrum of cellular pathways during most steps of the viral life cycle ranging from the host cell entry to viral protein translation has evolved. Since the host cell PI3K/Akt signaling pathway plays a critical regulatory role in many cellular processes including RNA processing, translation, autophagy and apoptosis, many viruses, in widely varying ways, target it. This review focuses on a number of remarkable examples of viral strategies, which exploit the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway for effective viral replication.

Caffeine induces tumor cytotoxicity via the regulation of alternative splicing in subsets of cancer-associated genes

Caffeine causes a diverse range of pharmacological effects that are time- and concentration-dependent and reversible. The detailed mechanisms of caffeine in tumor suppression via tumor suppressor protein p53 remain unclear. The isoforms of p53 are physiological proteins that are expressed in normal cells and generated via alternative promoters, splicing sites and/or translational initiation sites. In this study, we investigated how caffeine modulated cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via the expression of various alternatively spliced p53 isoforms. Caffeine reduced p53α expression and induced the expression of p53β, which contains an alternatively spliced p53 C-terminus. In HeLa cells, the expression levels of many serine/arginine-rich splicing factors, including serine/arginine-rich splicing factors 2 and 3, were altered by caffeine. Serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 3 was a promising candidate for the serine/arginine-rich splicing factors responsible for the alternative splicing of p53 in response to caffeine treatment. In addition to p53-dependent functions, multiple target genes of serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 3 suggest that caffeine can regulate epithelial-mesenchymal-transition and hypoxic conditions to inhibit the survival of tumor cells. In summary, our data provide a new pathway of caffeine-modulated tumor suppression via the alternative splicing of the target genes of serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 3.

Transcriptome-wide RNA interaction profiling reveals physical and functional targets of hnRNP L in human T cells

The RNA processing factor hnRNP L is required for T cell development and function. However, the spectrum of direct targets of hnRNP L activity in T cells has yet to be defined. In this study, we used cross-linking and immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (CLIP-seq) to identify the RNA binding sites of hnRNP L within the transcriptomes of human CD4(+) and cultured Jurkat T cells. We find that hnRNP L binds preferentially to transcripts encoding proteins involved in RNA processing and in Wnt and T cell receptor (TCR) signaling. This binding is largely conserved across both quiescent and activated T cells, in agreement with the critical role of hnRNP L throughout T cell biology. Importantly, based on the binding profile of hnRNP L, we validate numerous instances of hnRNP L-dependent alternative splicing of genes critical to T cell function. We further show that alternative exons with weak 5' splice site sequences specifically show a strong correlation between hnRNP L binding and hnRNP L-dependent splicing regulation. Together, these data provide the first transcriptome-wide analysis of the RNA targets of hnRNP L in lymphoid cells and add to the functional understanding of hnRNP L in human biology.

Isolated pseudo-RNA-recognition motifs of SR proteins can regulate splicing using a noncanonical mode of RNA recognition

Serine/arginine (SR) proteins, one of the major families of alternative-splicing regulators in Eukarya, have two types of RNA-recognition motifs (RRMs): a canonical RRM and a pseudo-RRM. Although pseudo-RRMs are crucial for activity of SR proteins, their mode of action was unknown. By solving the structure of the human SRSF1 pseudo-RRM bound to RNA, we discovered a very unusual and sequence-specific RNA-binding mode that is centered on one α-helix and does not involve the β-sheet surface, which typically mediates RNA binding by RRMs. Remarkably, this mode of binding is conserved in all pseudo-RRMs tested. Furthermore, the isolated pseudo-RRM is sufficient to regulate splicing of about half of the SRSF1 target genes tested, and the bound α-helix is a pivotal element for this function. Our results strongly suggest that SR proteins with a pseudo-RRM frequently regulate splicing by competing with, rather than recruiting, spliceosome components, using solely this unusual RRM.

Half pint/Puf68 is required for negative regulation of splicing by the SR splicing factor Transformer2

The SR family of proteins plays important regulatory roles in the control of alternative splicing in a wide range of organisms. These factors affect splicing through both positive and negative controls of splice site recognition by pre-spliceosomal factors. Recent studies indicate that the Drosophila SR factor Transformer 2 (Tra2) activates and represses splicing through distinct and separable effector regions of the protein. While the interactions of its Arg-Ser-rich activator region have been well studied, cofactors involved in splicing repression have yet to be found. Here we use a luciferase-based splicing reporter assay to screen for novel proteins necessary for Tra2-dependent repression of splicing. This approach identified Half pint, also known as Puf68, as a co-repressor required for Tra2-mediated autoregulation of the M1 intron. In vivo, Half pint is required for Tra2-dependent repression of M1 splicing but is not necessary for Tra2-dependent activation of doublesex splicing. Further experiments indicate that the effect of Hfp is sequence-specific and that it associates with these target transcripts in cells. Importantly, known M1 splicing regulatory elements are sufficient to sensitize a heterologous intron to Hfp regulation. Two alternative proteins deriving from Hfp transcripts, Hfp68, and Hfp58, were found to be expressed in vivo but differed dramatically in their effect on M1 splicing. Comparison of the cellular localization of these forms in S2 cells revealed that Hfp68 is predominantly localized to the nucleus while Hfp58 is distributed across both the nucleus and cytoplasm. This accords with their observed effects on splicing and suggests that differential compartmentalization may contribute to the specificity of these isoforms. Together, these studies reveal a function for Half pint in splicing repression and demonstrate it to be specifically required for Tra2-dependent intron inclusion.

Cardiac glycosides correct aberrant splicing of IKBKAP-encoded mRNA in familial dysautonomia derived cells by suppressing expression of SRSF3

The ability to modulate the production of the wild-type transcript in cells bearing the splice-altering familial dysautonomia (FD) causing mutation in the IKBKAP gene prompted a study of the impact of a panel of pharmaceuticals on the splicing of this transcript, which revealed the ability of the cardiac glycoside digoxin to increase the production of the wild-type, exon-20-containing, IKBKAP-encoded transcript and the full-length IκB-kinase-complex-associated protein in FD-derived cells. Characterization of the cis elements and trans factors involved in the digoxin-mediated effect on splicing reveals that this response is dependent on an SRSF3 binding site(s) located in the intron 5' of the alternatively spliced exon and that digoxin mediates its effect by suppressing the level of the SRSF3 protein. Characterization of the digoxin-mediated effect on the RNA splicing process was facilitated by the identification of several RNA splicing events in which digoxin treatment mediates the enhanced inclusion of exonic sequence. Moreover, we demonstrate the ability of digoxin to impact the splicing process in neuronal cells, a cell type profoundly impacted by FD. This study represents the first demonstration that digoxin possesses splice-altering capabilities that are capable of reversing the impact of the FD-causing mutation. These findings support the clinical evaluation of the impact of digoxin on the FD patient population.

A simple model to explain evolutionary trends of eukaryotic gene architecture and expression: how competition between splicing and cleavage/polyadenylation factors may affect gene expression and splice-site recognition in eukaryotes

Enormous phylogenetic variation exists in the number and sizes of introns in protein-coding genes. Although some consideration has been given to the underlying role of the population-genetic environment in defining such patterns, the influence of the intracellular environment remains virtually unexplored. Drawing from observations on interactions between co-transcriptional processes involved in splicing and mRNA 3'-end formation, a mechanistic model is proposed for splice-site recognition that challenges the commonly accepted intron- and exon-definition models. Under the suggested model, splicing factors that outcompete 3'-end processing factors for access to intronic binding sites concurrently favor the recruitment of 3'-end processing factors at the pre-mRNA tail. This hypothesis sheds new light on observations such as the intron-mediated enhancement of gene expression and the negative correlation between intron length and levels of gene expression.

Genome-wide analysis reveals SR protein cooperation and competition in regulated splicing

SR proteins are well-characterized RNA binding proteins that promote exon inclusion by binding to exonic splicing enhancers (ESEs). However, it has been unclear whether regulatory rules deduced on model genes apply generally to activities of SR proteins in the cell. Here, we report global analyses of two prototypical SR proteins, SRSF1 (SF2/ASF) and SRSF2 (SC35), using splicing-sensitive arrays and CLIP-seq on mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs). Unexpectedly, we find that these SR proteins promote both inclusion and skipping of exons in vivo, but their binding patterns do not explain such opposite responses. Further analyses reveal that loss of one SR protein is accompanied by coordinated loss or compensatory gain in the interaction of other SR proteins at the affected exons. Therefore, specific effects on regulated splicing by one SR protein actually depend on a complex set of relationships with multiple other SR proteins in mammalian genomes.

Regulation of splicing by SR proteins and SR protein-specific kinases

Genomic sequencing reveals similar but limited numbers of protein-coding genes in different genomes, which begs the question of how organismal diversities are generated. Alternative pre-mRNA splicing, a widespread phenomenon in higher eukaryotic genomes, is thought to provide a mechanism to increase the complexity of the proteome and introduce additional layers for regulating gene expression in different cell types and during development. Among a large number of factors implicated in the splicing regulation are the SR protein family of splicing factors and SR protein-specific kinases. Here, we summarize the rules for SR proteins to function as splicing regulators, which depend on where they bind in exons versus intronic regions, on alternative exons versus flanking competing exons, and on cooperative as well as competitive binding between different SR protein family members on many of those locations. We review the importance of cycles of SR protein phosphorylation/dephosphorylation in the splicing reaction with emphasis on the recent molecular insight into the role of SR protein phosphorylation in early steps of spliceosome assembly. Finally, we highlight recent discoveries of SR protein-specific kinases in transducing growth signals to regulate alternative splicing in the nucleus and the connection of both SR proteins and SR protein kinases to human diseases, particularly cancer.

Pick one, but be quick: 5' splice sites and the problems of too many choices

Splice site selection is fundamental to pre-mRNA splicing and the expansion of genomic coding potential. 5' Splice sites (5'ss) are the critical elements at the 5' end of introns and are extremely diverse, as thousands of different sequences act as bona fide 5'ss in the human transcriptome. Most 5'ss are recognized by base-pairing with the 5' end of the U1 small nuclear RNA (snRNA). Here we review the history of research on 5'ss selection, highlighting the difficulties of establishing how base-pairing strength determines splicing outcomes. We also discuss recent work demonstrating that U1 snRNA:5'ss helices can accommodate noncanonical registers such as bulged duplexes. In addition, we describe the mechanisms by which other snRNAs, regulatory proteins, splicing enhancers, and the relative positions of alternative 5'ss contribute to selection. Moreover, we discuss mechanisms by which the recognition of numerous candidate 5'ss might lead to selection of a single 5'ss and propose that protein complexes propagate along the exon, thereby changing its physical behavior so as to affect 5'ss selection.