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Mikina W, Hałakuc P, Milanowski R. Transposon-derived introns as an element shaping the structure of eukaryotic genomes. Mob DNA 2024; 15:15. [PMID: 39068498 PMCID: PMC11282704 DOI: 10.1186/s13100-024-00325-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 07/23/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024] Open
Abstract
The widely accepted hypothesis postulates that the first spliceosomal introns originated from group II self-splicing introns. However, it is evident that not all spliceosomal introns in the nuclear genes of modern eukaryotes are inherited through vertical transfer of intronic sequences. Several phenomena contribute to the formation of new introns but their most common origin seems to be the insertion of transposable elements. Recent analyses have highlighted instances of mass gains of new introns from transposable elements. These events often coincide with an increase or change in the spliceosome's tolerance to splicing signals, including the acceptance of noncanonical borders. Widespread acquisitions of transposon-derived introns occur across diverse evolutionary lineages, indicating convergent processes. These events, though independent, likely require a similar set of conditions. These conditions include the presence of transposon elements with features enabling their removal at the RNA level as introns and/or the existence of a splicing mechanism capable of excising unusual sequences that would otherwise not be recognized as introns by standard splicing machinery. Herein we summarize those mechanisms across different eukaryotic lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weronika Mikina
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, Żwirki i Wigury 101, Warsaw, 02‑089, Poland
| | - Paweł Hałakuc
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, Żwirki i Wigury 101, Warsaw, 02‑089, Poland
| | - Rafał Milanowski
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, Żwirki i Wigury 101, Warsaw, 02‑089, Poland.
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2
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Buerer L, Clark NE, Welch A, Duan C, Taggart AJ, Townley BA, Wang J, Soemedi R, Rong S, Lin CL, Zeng Y, Katolik A, Staley JP, Damha MJ, Mosammaparast N, Fairbrother WG. The debranching enzyme Dbr1 regulates lariat turnover and intron splicing. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4617. [PMID: 38816363 PMCID: PMC11139901 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48696-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/05/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
The majority of genic transcription is intronic. Introns are removed by splicing as branched lariat RNAs which require rapid recycling. The branch site is recognized during splicing catalysis and later debranched by Dbr1 in the rate-limiting step of lariat turnover. Through generation of a viable DBR1 knockout cell line, we find the predominantly nuclear Dbr1 enzyme to encode the sole debranching activity in human cells. Dbr1 preferentially debranches substrates that contain canonical U2 binding motifs, suggesting that branchsites discovered through sequencing do not necessarily represent those favored by the spliceosome. We find that Dbr1 also exhibits specificity for particular 5' splice site sequences. We identify Dbr1 interactors through co-immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry. We present a mechanistic model for Dbr1 recruitment to the branchpoint through the intron-binding protein AQR. In addition to a 20-fold increase in lariats, Dbr1 depletion increases exon skipping. Using ADAR fusions to timestamp lariats, we demonstrate a defect in spliceosome recycling. In the absence of Dbr1, spliceosomal components remain associated with the lariat for a longer period of time. As splicing is co-transcriptional, slower recycling increases the likelihood that downstream exons will be available for exon skipping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke Buerer
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
| | - Nathaniel E Clark
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
| | - Anastasia Welch
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
| | - Chaorui Duan
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
| | - Allison J Taggart
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
| | - Brittany A Townley
- Department of Pathology & Immunology, Center for Genome Integrity, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Jing Wang
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
| | - Rachel Soemedi
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
| | - Stephen Rong
- Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA
- Department of Genetics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Chien-Ling Lin
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan
| | - Yi Zeng
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Adam Katolik
- Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 0B8, Canada
| | - Jonathan P Staley
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| | - Masad J Damha
- Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 0B8, Canada
| | - Nima Mosammaparast
- Department of Pathology & Immunology, Center for Genome Integrity, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - William G Fairbrother
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA.
- Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
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3
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Zong Y, Zhang F, Wu H, Xia H, Wu J, Tu Z, Yang L, Li H. Comprehensive deciphering the alternative splicing patterns involved in leaf morphogenesis of Liriodendron chinense. BMC PLANT BIOLOGY 2024; 24:250. [PMID: 38580919 PMCID: PMC10998384 DOI: 10.1186/s12870-024-04915-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
Alternative splicing (AS), a pivotal post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism, profoundly amplifies diversity and complexity of transcriptome and proteome. Liriodendron chinense (Hemsl.) Sarg., an excellent ornamental tree species renowned for its distinctive leaf shape, which resembles the mandarin jacket. Despite the documented potential genes related to leaf development of L. chinense, the underlying post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms remain veiled. Here, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the transcriptome to clarify the genome-wide landscape of the AS pattern and the spectrum of spliced isoforms during leaf developmental stages in L. chinense. Our investigation unveiled 50,259 AS events, involving 10,685 genes (32.9%), with intron retention as the most prevalent events. Notably, the initial stage of leaf development witnessed the detection of 804 differentially AS events affiliated with 548 genes. Although both differentially alternative splicing genes (DASGs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enriched into morphogenetic related pathways during the transition from fishhook (P2) to lobed (P7) leaves, there was only a modest degree of overlap between DASGs and DEGs. Furthermore, we conducted a comprehensively AS analysis on homologous genes involved in leaf morphogenesis, and most of which are subject to post-transcriptional regulation of AS. Among them, the AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE transcript factor LcAIL5 was characterization in detailed, which experiences skipping exon (SE), and two transcripts displayed disparate expression patterns across multiple stages. Overall, these findings yield a comprehensive understanding of leaf development regulation via AS, offering a novel perspective for further deciphering the mechanism of plant leaf morphogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaxian Zong
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
| | - Fengchao Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hainan Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hui Xia
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
| | - Junpeng Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhonghua Tu
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
| | - Lichun Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
| | - Huogen Li
- State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China.
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4
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Shirokikh NE, Jensen KB, Thakor N. Editorial: RNA machines. Front Genet 2023; 14:1290420. [PMID: 37829284 PMCID: PMC10565666 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1290420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Nikolay E. Shirokikh
- The John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Kirk Blomquist Jensen
- School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Nehal Thakor
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
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Yavas Abali Z, Gokpinar Ili E, Bas F, Ulak Ozkan M, Gulec Ç, Toksoy G, Ozturk AP, Karakilic Ozturan E, Aslanger A, Caliskan M, Yesil G, Poyrazoglu S, Darendeliler F, Oya Uyguner Z. A Novel RNPC3 Gene Variant Expands the Phenotype in Patients with Congenital Hypopituitarism and Neuropathy. Horm Res Paediatr 2023; 97:157-164. [PMID: 37463572 DOI: 10.1159/000532000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Pathogenic biallelic RNPC3 variants cause congenital hypopituitarism (CH) with congenital cataracts, neuropathy, developmental delay/intellectual disability, primary ovarian insufficiency, and pituitary hypoplasia. Here, we aimed to evaluate the clinical and molecular characteristics of 2 patients with CH and neuropathy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Proband was evaluated by clinical, laboratory, and radiological exams, followed by exome sequencing (ES). Clinical investigation of an affected sibling and variant segregation in the family was performed by Sanger sequencing. A three-dimensional protein model study was conducted to predict the effect of the variant on the function of the RNPC3 peptide. RESULTS Proband was a 16-month-old girl who was referred for the evaluation of failure to thrive. Her height, weight, and head circumference were 55.8 cm (-7.6 SDS), 6.5 kg (-3.6 SDS), and 41.8 cm (-3.82), respectively. She had a developmental delay and intellectual disability. Central hypothyroidism, growth hormone, and prolactin deficiencies were identified, and MRI revealed pituitary hypoplasia. Electroneuromyography performed for the gait abnormality revealed peripheral neuropathy. A homozygous novel variant c.484C>T/p.(Pro162Ser) in the RNPC3 was detected in the ES. Her brother had the same genotype, and he similarly had pituitary hormone deficiencies with polyneuropathy. CONCLUSION Expanding our knowledge of the spectrum of RNPC3 variants, and apprehending clinical and molecular data of additional cases, is decisive for accurate diagnosis and genetic counseling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zehra Yavas Abali
- Institute of Health Sciences, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Department of Medical Genetics, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
- Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Pendik Research and Training Hospital, Marmara University, İstanbul, Turkey
| | - Ezgi Gokpinar Ili
- Department of Medical Genetics, Başaksehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Firdevs Bas
- Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Melis Ulak Ozkan
- Department of Pediatric Neurology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Çagrı Gulec
- Department of Medical Genetics, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Guven Toksoy
- Department of Medical Genetics, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ayşe Pinar Ozturk
- Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Esin Karakilic Ozturan
- Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ayça Aslanger
- Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Mine Caliskan
- Department of Pediatric Neurology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Gozde Yesil
- Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Sukran Poyrazoglu
- Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Feyza Darendeliler
- Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Zehra Oya Uyguner
- Department of Medical Genetics, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey
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6
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Sullivan PJ, Gayevskiy V, Davis RL, Wong M, Mayoh C, Mallawaarachchi A, Hort Y, McCabe MJ, Beecroft S, Jackson MR, Arts P, Dubowsky A, Laing N, Dinger ME, Scott HS, Oates E, Pinese M, Cowley MJ. Introme accurately predicts the impact of coding and noncoding variants on gene splicing, with clinical applications. Genome Biol 2023; 24:118. [PMID: 37198692 PMCID: PMC10190034 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-023-02936-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 04/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Predicting the impact of coding and noncoding variants on splicing is challenging, particularly in non-canonical splice sites, leading to missed diagnoses in patients. Existing splice prediction tools are complementary but knowing which to use for each splicing context remains difficult. Here, we describe Introme, which uses machine learning to integrate predictions from several splice detection tools, additional splicing rules, and gene architecture features to comprehensively evaluate the likelihood of a variant impacting splicing. Through extensive benchmarking across 21,000 splice-altering variants, Introme outperformed all tools (auPRC: 0.98) for the detection of clinically significant splice variants. Introme is available at https://github.com/CCICB/introme .
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia J Sullivan
- Children's Cancer Institute, Lowy Cancer Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- University of New South Wales Centre for Childhood Cancer Research, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Velimir Gayevskiy
- Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
| | - Ryan L Davis
- Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
- Department of Neurogenetics, Kolling Institute, St. Leonards, NSW, Australia
- Sydney Medical School-Northern, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Marie Wong
- Children's Cancer Institute, Lowy Cancer Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Chelsea Mayoh
- Children's Cancer Institute, Lowy Cancer Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Amali Mallawaarachchi
- Division of Genomics and Epigenetics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
- Clinical Genetics Unit, Institute of Precision Medicine and Bioinformatics, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, Australia
| | - Yvonne Hort
- Division of Genomics and Epigenetics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
| | - Mark J McCabe
- Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
| | - Sarah Beecroft
- Centre for Medical Research, University of Western Australia, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, QEII Medical Centre, Nedlands, WA, Australia
| | - Matilda R Jackson
- Department of Genetics and Molecular Pathology, Centre for Cancer Biology, An Alliance Between SA Pathology and the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
- Australian Genomics, Parkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Peer Arts
- Department of Genetics and Molecular Pathology, Centre for Cancer Biology, An Alliance Between SA Pathology and the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Andrew Dubowsky
- Department of Genetics and Molecular Pathology, SA Pathology, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Nigel Laing
- Centre for Medical Research, University of Western Australia, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, QEII Medical Centre, Nedlands, WA, Australia
| | - Marcel E Dinger
- Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Hamish S Scott
- Department of Genetics and Molecular Pathology, Centre for Cancer Biology, An Alliance Between SA Pathology and the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
- Australian Genomics, Parkville, VIC, Australia
- School of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- ACRF Cancer Genomics Facility, Centre for Cancer Biology, An Alliance Between SA Pathology and the University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Emily Oates
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Mark Pinese
- Children's Cancer Institute, Lowy Cancer Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Mark J Cowley
- Children's Cancer Institute, Lowy Cancer Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
- School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
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7
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Girardini KN, Olthof AM, Kanadia RN. Introns: the "dark matter" of the eukaryotic genome. Front Genet 2023; 14:1150212. [PMID: 37260773 PMCID: PMC10228655 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1150212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The emergence of introns was a significant evolutionary leap that is a major distinguishing feature between prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. While historically introns were regarded merely as the sequences that are removed to produce spliced transcripts encoding functional products, increasingly data suggests that introns play important roles in the regulation of gene expression. Here, we use an intron-centric lens to review the role of introns in eukaryotic gene expression. First, we focus on intron architecture and how it may influence mechanisms of splicing. Second, we focus on the implications of spliceosomal snRNAs and their variants on intron splicing. Finally, we discuss how the presence of introns and the need to splice them influences transcription regulation. Despite the abundance of introns in the eukaryotic genome and their emerging role regulating gene expression, a lot remains unexplored. Therefore, here we refer to introns as the "dark matter" of the eukaryotic genome and discuss some of the outstanding questions in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaitlin N. Girardini
- Physiology and Neurobiology Department, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
| | - Anouk M. Olthof
- Physiology and Neurobiology Department, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Rahul N. Kanadia
- Physiology and Neurobiology Department, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
- Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States
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8
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Titus-McQuillan JE, Nanni AV, McIntyre LM, Rogers RL. Estimating transcriptome complexities across eukaryotes. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:254. [PMID: 37170194 PMCID: PMC10173493 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09326-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Genomic complexity is a growing field of evolution, with case studies for comparative evolutionary analyses in model and emerging non-model systems. Understanding complexity and the functional components of the genome is an untapped wealth of knowledge ripe for exploration. With the "remarkable lack of correspondence" between genome size and complexity, there needs to be a way to quantify complexity across organisms. In this study, we use a set of complexity metrics that allow for evaluating changes in complexity using TranD. RESULTS We ascertain if complexity is increasing or decreasing across transcriptomes and at what structural level, as complexity varies. In this study, we define three metrics - TpG, EpT, and EpG- to quantify the transcriptome's complexity that encapsulates the dynamics of alternative splicing. Here we compare complexity metrics across 1) whole genome annotations, 2) a filtered subset of orthologs, and 3) novel genes to elucidate the impacts of orthologs and novel genes in transcript model analysis. Effective Exon Number (EEN) issued to compare the distribution of exon sizes within transcripts against random expectations of uniform exon placement. EEN accounts for differences in exon size, which is important because novel gene differences in complexity for orthologs and whole-transcriptome analyses are biased towards low-complexity genes with few exons and few alternative transcripts. CONCLUSIONS With our metric analyses, we are able to quantify changes in complexity across diverse lineages with greater precision and accuracy than previous cross-species comparisons under ortholog conditioning. These analyses represent a step toward whole-transcriptome analysis in the emerging field of non-model evolutionary genomics, with key insights for evolutionary inference of complexity changes on deep timescales across the tree of life. We suggest a means to quantify biases generated in ortholog calling and correct complexity analysis for lineage-specific effects. With these metrics, we directly assay the quantitative properties of newly formed lineage-specific genes as they lower complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- James E Titus-McQuillan
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA.
| | - Adalena V Nanni
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
- University of Florida Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Lauren M McIntyre
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
- University of Florida Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - Rebekah L Rogers
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA
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9
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García-Ruiz S, Zhang D, Gustavsson EK, Rocamora-Perez G, Grant-Peters M, Fairbrother-Browne A, Reynolds RH, Brenton JW, Gil-Martínez AL, Chen Z, Rio DC, Botia JA, Guelfi S, Collado-Torres L, Ryten M. Splicing accuracy varies across human introns, tissues and age. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.03.29.534370. [PMID: 37034741 PMCID: PMC10081249 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.29.534370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Alternative splicing impacts most multi-exonic human genes. Inaccuracies during this process may have an important role in ageing and disease. Here, we investigated mis-splicing using RNA-sequencing data from ~14K control samples and 42 human body sites, focusing on split reads partially mapping to known transcripts in annotation. We show that mis-splicing occurs at different rates across introns and tissues and that these splicing inaccuracies are primarily affected by the abundance of core components of the spliceosome assembly and its regulators. Using publicly available data on short-hairpin RNA-knockdowns of numerous spliceosomal components and related regulators, we found support for the importance of RNA-binding proteins in mis-splicing. We also demonstrated that age is positively correlated with mis-splicing, and it affects genes implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. This in-depth characterisation of mis-splicing can have important implications for our understanding of the role of splicing inaccuracies in human disease and the interpretation of long-read RNA-sequencing data.
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Affiliation(s)
- S García-Ruiz
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, London, UK
- Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815
| | - D Zhang
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
| | - E K Gustavsson
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, London, UK
- Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815
| | - G Rocamora-Perez
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
| | - M Grant-Peters
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, London, UK
- Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815
| | - A Fairbrother-Browne
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815
- Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Basic and Medical Biosciences, King's College London, London, UK
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, UCL, London, UK
| | - R H Reynolds
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, London, UK
- Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815
| | - J W Brenton
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, London, UK
- Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815
| | - A L Gil-Martínez
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, UCL, London, UK
| | - Z Chen
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, UCL, London, UK
| | - D C Rio
- Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - J A Botia
- Departamento de Ingeniería de la Información y las Comunicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - S Guelfi
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- Verge Genomics, South San Francisco, CA, 94080, USA
| | - L Collado-Torres
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA , 21205
| | - M Ryten
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine Research & Teaching, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
- NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, London, UK
- Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) Collaborative Research Network, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815
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10
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Ding Z, Meng YR, Fan YJ, Xu YZ. Roles of minor spliceosome in intron recognition and the convergence with the better understood major spliceosome. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. RNA 2023; 14:e1761. [PMID: 36056453 DOI: 10.1002/wrna.1761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 08/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Catalyzed by spliceosomes in the nucleus, RNA splicing removes intronic sequences from precursor RNAs in eukaryotes to generate mature RNA, which also significantly increases proteome complexity and fine-tunes gene expression. Most metazoans have two coexisting spliceosomes; the major spliceosome, which removes >99.5% of introns, and the minor spliceosome, which removes far fewer introns (only 770 at present have been predicted in the human genome). Both spliceosomes are large and dynamic machineries, each consisting of five small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) and more than 100 proteins. However, the dynamic assembly, catalysis, and protein composition of the minor spliceosome are still poorly understood. With different splicing signals, minor introns are rare and usually distributed alone and flanked by major introns in genes, raising questions of how they are recognized by the minor spliceosome and how their processing deals with the splicing of neighboring major introns. Due to large numbers of introns and close similarities between the two machinery, cooperative, and competitive recognition by the two spliceosomes has been investigated. Functionally, many minor-intron-containing genes are evolutionarily conserved and essential. Mutations in the minor spliceosome exhibit a variety of developmental defects in plants and animals and are linked to numerous human diseases. Here, we review recent progress in the understanding of minor splicing, compare currently known components of the two spliceosomes, survey minor introns in a wide range of organisms, discuss cooperation and competition of the two spliceosomes in splicing of minor-intron-containing genes, and contributions of minor splicing mutations in development and diseases. This article is categorized under: RNA Processing > Processing of Small RNAs RNA Processing > Splicing Mechanisms RNA Structure and Dynamics > RNA Structure, Dynamics and Chemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhan Ding
- RNA Institute, State Key Laboratory of Virology, and Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China.,Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Yan-Ran Meng
- RNA Institute, State Key Laboratory of Virology, and Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Yu-Jie Fan
- RNA Institute, State Key Laboratory of Virology, and Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Yong-Zhen Xu
- RNA Institute, State Key Laboratory of Virology, and Hubei Key Laboratory of Cell Homeostasis, College of Life Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
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11
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David JK, Maden SK, Wood MA, Thompson RF, Nellore A. Retained introns in long RNA-seq reads are not reliably detected in sample-matched short reads. Genome Biol 2022; 23:240. [PMID: 36369064 PMCID: PMC9652823 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-022-02789-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND There is growing interest in retained introns in a variety of disease contexts including cancer and aging. Many software tools have been developed to detect retained introns from short RNA-seq reads, but reliable detection is complicated by overlapping genes and transcripts as well as the presence of unprocessed or partially processed RNAs. RESULTS We compared introns detected by 8 tools using short RNA-seq reads with introns observed in long RNA-seq reads from the same biological specimens. We found significant disagreement among tools (Fleiss' [Formula: see text]) such that 47.7% of all detected intron retentions were not called by more than one tool. We also observed poor performance of all tools, with none achieving an F1-score greater than 0.26, and qualitatively different behaviors between general-purpose alternative splicing detection tools and tools confined to retained intron detection. CONCLUSIONS Short-read tools detect intron retention with poor recall and precision, calling into question the completeness and validity of a large percentage of putatively retained introns called by commonly used methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julianne K. David
- grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Computational Biology Program, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Department of Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,Present Address: Base5 Genomics, Inc., Mountain View, CA USA
| | - Sean K. Maden
- grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Computational Biology Program, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Department of Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,grid.21107.350000 0001 2171 9311Present Address: Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Mary A. Wood
- grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Computational Biology Program, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,grid.429936.30000 0004 5914 210XPortland VA Research Foundation, Portland, OR USA ,Present Address: Phase Genomics, Inc., Seattle, WA USA
| | - Reid F. Thompson
- grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Computational Biology Program, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Department of Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,grid.484322.bDivision of Hospital and Specialty Medicine, VA Portland Healthcare System, Portland, OR USA ,grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Department of Radiation Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA
| | - Abhinav Nellore
- grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Computational Biology Program, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Department of Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA ,grid.5288.70000 0000 9758 5690Department of Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA
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12
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Roces V, Lamelas L, Valledor L, Carbó M, Cañal MJ, Meijón M. Integrative analysis in Pinus revealed long-term heat stress splicing memory. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2022; 112:998-1013. [PMID: 36151923 PMCID: PMC9828640 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Revised: 08/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Due to the current climate change, many studies have described main drivers in abiotic stress. Recent findings suggest that alternative splicing (AS) has a critical role in controlling plant responses to high temperature. AS is a mechanism that allows organisms to create an assortment of RNA transcripts and proteins using a single gene. However, the most important roles of AS in stress could not be rigorously addressed because research has been focused on model species, covering only a narrow phylogenetic and lifecycle spectrum. Thus, AS degree of diversification among more dissimilar taxa in heat response is still largely unknown. To fill this gap, the present study employs a systems biology approach to examine how the AS landscape responds to and 'remembers' heat stress in conifers, a group which has received little attention even though their position can solve key evolutionary questions. Contrary to angiosperms, we found that potential intron retention may not be the most prevalent type of AS. Furthermore, our integrative analysis with metabolome and proteome data places splicing as the main source of variation during the response. Finally, we evaluated possible acquired long-term splicing memory in a diverse subset of events, and although this mechanism seems to be conserved in seed plants, AS dynamics are divergent. These discoveries reveal the particular way of remembering past temperature changes in long-lived plants and open the door to include species with unique features to determine the extent of conservation in gene expression regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Víctor Roces
- Plant Physiology, Department of Organisms and Systems Biology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology Institute of AsturiasUniversity of OviedoOviedoAsturiasSpain
| | - Laura Lamelas
- Plant Physiology, Department of Organisms and Systems Biology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology Institute of AsturiasUniversity of OviedoOviedoAsturiasSpain
| | - Luis Valledor
- Plant Physiology, Department of Organisms and Systems Biology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology Institute of AsturiasUniversity of OviedoOviedoAsturiasSpain
| | - María Carbó
- Plant Physiology, Department of Organisms and Systems Biology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology Institute of AsturiasUniversity of OviedoOviedoAsturiasSpain
| | - María Jesús Cañal
- Plant Physiology, Department of Organisms and Systems Biology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology Institute of AsturiasUniversity of OviedoOviedoAsturiasSpain
| | - Mónica Meijón
- Plant Physiology, Department of Organisms and Systems Biology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology Institute of AsturiasUniversity of OviedoOviedoAsturiasSpain
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13
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Petrić Howe M, Crerar H, Neeves J, Harley J, Tyzack GE, Klein P, Ramos A, Patani R, Luisier R. Physiological intron retaining transcripts in the cytoplasm abound during human motor neurogenesis. Genome Res 2022; 32:1808-1825. [PMID: 36180233 PMCID: PMC9712626 DOI: 10.1101/gr.276898.122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Intron retention (IR) is now recognized as a dominant splicing event during motor neuron (MN) development; however, the role and regulation of intron-retaining transcripts (IRTs) localized to the cytoplasm remain particularly understudied. Here we show that IR is a physiological process that is spatiotemporally regulated during MN lineage restriction and that IRTs in the cytoplasm are detected in as many as 13% (n = 2297) of the genes expressed during this process. We identify a major class of cytoplasmic IRTs that are not associated with reduced expression of their own genes but instead show a high capacity for RNA-binding protein and miRNA occupancy. Finally, we show that ALS-causing VCP mutations lead to a selective increase in cytoplasmic abundance of this particular class of IRTs, which in turn temporally coincides with an increase in the nuclear expression level of predicted miRNA target genes. Altogether, our study identifies a previously unrecognized class of cytoplasmic intronic sequences with potential regulatory function beyond gene expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marija Petrić Howe
- The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Hamish Crerar
- The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Jacob Neeves
- The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Jasmine Harley
- The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Giulia E Tyzack
- The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Pierre Klein
- The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Research Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6XA, United Kingdom
| | - Andres Ramos
- Research Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6XA, United Kingdom
| | - Rickie Patani
- The Francis Crick Institute, London NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Raphaëlle Luisier
- Idiap Research Institute, Genomics and Health Informatics, CH-1920 Martigny, Switzerland
- SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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14
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Weinstein R, Bishop K, Broadbridge E, Yu K, Carrington B, Elkahloun A, Zhen T, Pei W, Burgess SM, Liu P, Bresciani E, Sood R. Zrsr2 Is Essential for the Embryonic Development and Splicing of Minor Introns in RNA and Protein Processing Genes in Zebrafish. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:10668. [PMID: 36142581 PMCID: PMC9501576 DOI: 10.3390/ijms231810668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
ZRSR2 (zinc finger CCCH-type, RNA binding motif and serine/arginine rich 2) is an essential splicing factor involved in 3' splice-site recognition as a component of both the major and minor spliceosomes that mediate the splicing of U2-type (major) and U12-type (minor) introns, respectively. Studies of ZRSR2-depleted cell lines and ZRSR2-mutated patient samples revealed its essential role in the U12-dependent minor spliceosome. However, the role of ZRSR2 during embryonic development is not clear, as its function is compensated for by Zrsr1 in mice. Here, we utilized the zebrafish model to investigate the role of zrsr2 during embryonic development. Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, we generated a zrsr2-knockout zebrafish line, termed zrsr2hg129/hg129 (p.Trp167Argfs*9) and examined embryo development in the homozygous mutant embryos. zrsr2hg129/hg129 embryos displayed multiple developmental defects starting at 4 days post fertilization (dpf) and died after 8 dpf, suggesting that proper Zrsr2 function is required during embryonic development. The global transcriptome analysis of 3 dpf zrsr2hg129/hg129 embryos revealed that the loss of Zrsr2 results in the downregulation of essential metabolic pathways and the aberrant retention of minor introns in about one-third of all minor intron-containing genes in zebrafish. Overall, our study has demonstrated that the role of Zrsr2 as a component of the minor spliceosome is conserved and critical for proper embryonic development in zebrafish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Weinstein
- Zebrafish Core, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Kevin Bishop
- Zebrafish Core, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Elizabeth Broadbridge
- Oncogenesis and Development Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Kai Yu
- Oncogenesis and Development Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Blake Carrington
- Zebrafish Core, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Abdel Elkahloun
- Microarray Core, Cancer Genetics and Comparative Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Tao Zhen
- Oncogenesis and Development Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Wuhong Pei
- Developmental Genomics Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Shawn M. Burgess
- Developmental Genomics Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Paul Liu
- Oncogenesis and Development Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Erica Bresciani
- Oncogenesis and Development Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Raman Sood
- Zebrafish Core, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- Oncogenesis and Development Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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15
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Vosseberg J, Schinkel M, Gremmen S, Snel B. The spread of the first introns in proto-eukaryotic paralogs. Commun Biol 2022; 5:476. [PMID: 35589959 PMCID: PMC9120149 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03426-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Spliceosomal introns are a unique feature of eukaryotic genes. Previous studies have established that many introns were present in the protein-coding genes of the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). Intron positions shared between genes that duplicated before LECA could in principle provide insight into the emergence of the first introns. In this study we use ancestral intron position reconstructions in two large sets of duplicated families to systematically identify these ancient paralogous intron positions. We found that 20-35% of introns inferred to have been present in LECA were shared between paralogs. These shared introns, which likely preceded ancient duplications, were wide spread across different functions, with the notable exception of nuclear transport. Since we observed a clear signal of pervasive intron loss prior to LECA, it is likely that substantially more introns were shared at the time of duplication than we can detect in LECA. The large extent of shared introns indicates an early origin of introns during eukaryogenesis and suggests an early origin of a nuclear structure, before most of the other complex eukaryotic features were established.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Vosseberg
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Michelle Schinkel
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Sjoerd Gremmen
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Berend Snel
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
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16
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Jacquier V, Prévot M, Gostan T, Bordonné R, Benkhelifa-Ziyyat S, Barkats M, Soret J. Splicing efficiency of minor introns in a mouse model of SMA predominantly depends on their branchpoint sequence and can involve the contribution of major spliceosome components. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2022; 28:303-319. [PMID: 34893560 PMCID: PMC8848931 DOI: 10.1261/rna.078329.120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Accepted: 11/22/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease caused by reduced amounts of the ubiquitously expressed Survival of Motor Neuron (SMN) protein. In agreement with its crucial role in the biogenesis of spliceosomal snRNPs, SMN-deficiency is correlated to numerous splicing alterations in patient cells and various tissues of SMA mouse models. Among the snRNPs whose assembly is impacted by SMN-deficiency, those involved in the minor spliceosome are particularly affected. Importantly, splicing of several, but not all U12-dependent introns has been shown to be affected in different SMA models. Here, we have investigated the molecular determinants of this differential splicing in spinal cords from SMA mice. We show that the branchpoint sequence (BPS) is a key element controlling splicing efficiency of minor introns. Unexpectedly, splicing of several minor introns with suboptimal BPS is not affected in SMA mice. Using in vitro splicing experiments and oligonucleotides targeting minor or major snRNAs, we show for the first time that splicing of these introns involves both the minor and major machineries. Our results strongly suggest that splicing of a subset of minor introns is not affected in SMA mice because components of the major spliceosome compensate for the loss of minor splicing activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentin Jacquier
- Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier 34293, France
| | - Manon Prévot
- Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier 34293, France
| | - Thierry Gostan
- Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier 34293, France
| | - Rémy Bordonné
- Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier 34293, France
| | - Sofia Benkhelifa-Ziyyat
- Centre de Recherche en Myologie (CRM), Institut de Myologie, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Inserm UMRS974, GH Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris 75013, France
| | - Martine Barkats
- Centre de Recherche en Myologie (CRM), Institut de Myologie, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Inserm UMRS974, GH Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris 75013, France
| | - Johann Soret
- Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier 34293, France
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17
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Satou Y, Tokuoka M, Oda-Ishii I, Tokuhiro S, Ishida T, Liu B, Iwamura Y. A Manually Curated Gene Model Set for an Ascidian, Ciona robusta (Ciona intestinalis Type A). Zoolog Sci 2022; 39:253-260. [DOI: 10.2108/zs210102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yutaka Satou
- Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Miki Tokuoka
- Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Izumi Oda-Ishii
- Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Sinichi Tokuhiro
- Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Tasuku Ishida
- Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Boqi Liu
- Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Yuri Iwamura
- Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
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18
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Distinct Minor Splicing Patterns across Cancers. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13020387. [PMID: 35205431 PMCID: PMC8871696 DOI: 10.3390/genes13020387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2021] [Revised: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In human cells, the U12 spliceosome, also known as the minor spliceosome, is responsible for the splicing of 0.5% of introns, while the major U2 spliceosome is responsible for the other 99.5%. While many studies have been done to characterize and understand splicing dysregulation in cancer, almost all of them have focused on U2 splicing and ignored U12 splicing, despite evidence suggesting minor splicing is involved in cell cycle regulation. In this study, we analyzed RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas for 14 different cohorts to determine differential splicing of minor introns in tumor and adjacent normal tissue. We found that in some cohorts, such as breast cancer, there was a strong skew towards minor introns showing increased splicing in the tumor; in others, such as the renal chromophobe cell carcinoma cohort, the opposite pattern was found, with minor introns being much more likely to have decreased splicing in the tumor. Further analysis of gene expression did not reveal any candidate regulatory mechanisms that could cause these different minor splicing phenotypes between cohorts. Our data suggest context-dependent roles of the minor spliceosome in tumorigenesis and provides a foundation for further investigation of minor splicing in cancer, which could then serve as a basis for novel therapeutic strategies.
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19
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Field-theoretic density estimation for biological sequence space with applications to 5' splice site diversity and aneuploidy in cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2025782118. [PMID: 34599093 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2025782118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Density estimation in sequence space is a fundamental problem in machine learning that is also of great importance in computational biology. Due to the discrete nature and large dimensionality of sequence space, how best to estimate such probability distributions from a sample of observed sequences remains unclear. One common strategy for addressing this problem is to estimate the probability distribution using maximum entropy (i.e., calculating point estimates for some set of correlations based on the observed sequences and predicting the probability distribution that is as uniform as possible while still matching these point estimates). Building on recent advances in Bayesian field-theoretic density estimation, we present a generalization of this maximum entropy approach that provides greater expressivity in regions of sequence space where data are plentiful while still maintaining a conservative maximum entropy character in regions of sequence space where data are sparse or absent. In particular, we define a family of priors for probability distributions over sequence space with a single hyperparameter that controls the expected magnitude of higher-order correlations. This family of priors then results in a corresponding one-dimensional family of maximum a posteriori estimates that interpolate smoothly between the maximum entropy estimate and the observed sample frequencies. To demonstrate the power of this method, we use it to explore the high-dimensional geometry of the distribution of 5' splice sites found in the human genome and to understand patterns of chromosomal abnormalities across human cancers.
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20
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Akinyi MV, Frilander MJ. At the Intersection of Major and Minor Spliceosomes: Crosstalk Mechanisms and Their Impact on Gene Expression. Front Genet 2021; 12:700744. [PMID: 34354740 PMCID: PMC8329584 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.700744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Many eukaryotic species contain two separate molecular machineries for removing non-coding intron sequences from pre-mRNA molecules. The majority of introns (more than 99.5% in humans) are recognized and excised by the major spliceosome, which utilizes relatively poorly conserved sequence elements at the 5′ and 3′ ends of the intron that are used for intron recognition and in subsequent catalysis. In contrast, the minor spliceosome targets a rare group of introns (approximately 0.5% in humans) with highly conserved sequences at the 5′ and 3′ ends of the intron. Minor introns coexist in the same genes with major introns and while the two intron types are spliced by separate spliceosomes, the two splicing machineries can interact with one another to shape mRNA processing events in genes containing minor introns. Here, we review known cooperative and competitive interactions between the two spliceosomes and discuss the mechanistic basis of the spliceosome crosstalk, its regulatory significance, and impact on spliceosome diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maureen V Akinyi
- Institute of Biotechnology/Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mikko J Frilander
- Institute of Biotechnology/Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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21
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de Wolf B, Oghabian A, Akinyi MV, Hanks S, Tromer EC, van Hooff JJE, van Voorthuijsen L, van Rooijen LE, Verbeeren J, Uijttewaal ECH, Baltissen MPA, Yost S, Piloquet P, Vermeulen M, Snel B, Isidor B, Rahman N, Frilander MJ, Kops GJPL. Chromosomal instability by mutations in the novel minor spliceosome component CENATAC. EMBO J 2021; 40:e106536. [PMID: 34009673 PMCID: PMC8280824 DOI: 10.15252/embj.2020106536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Revised: 04/16/2021] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Aneuploidy is the leading cause of miscarriage and congenital birth defects, and a hallmark of cancer. Despite this strong association with human disease, the genetic causes of aneuploidy remain largely unknown. Through exome sequencing of patients with constitutional mosaic aneuploidy, we identified biallelic truncating mutations in CENATAC (CCDC84). We show that CENATAC is a novel component of the minor (U12-dependent) spliceosome that promotes splicing of a specific, rare minor intron subtype. This subtype is characterized by AT-AN splice sites and relatively high basal levels of intron retention. CENATAC depletion or expression of disease mutants resulted in excessive retention of AT-AN minor introns in ˜ 100 genes enriched for nucleocytoplasmic transport and cell cycle regulators, and caused chromosome segregation errors. Our findings reveal selectivity in minor intron splicing and suggest a link between minor spliceosome defects and constitutional aneuploidy in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bas de Wolf
- Oncode InstituteHubrecht Institute ‐ Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and University Medical Centre UtrechtUtrechtThe Netherlands
| | - Ali Oghabian
- Institute of BiotechnologyHelsinki Institute of Life ScienceUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- Present address:
Faculty of MedicineResearch Programs UnitUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Maureen V Akinyi
- Institute of BiotechnologyHelsinki Institute of Life ScienceUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Sandra Hanks
- Division of Genetics and EpidemiologyInstitute of Cancer ResearchLondonUK
| | - Eelco C Tromer
- Oncode InstituteHubrecht Institute ‐ Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and University Medical Centre UtrechtUtrechtThe Netherlands
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, BiologyScience FacultyUtrecht UniversityUtrechtThe Netherlands
- Present address:
Department of BiochemistryUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
| | - Jolien J E van Hooff
- Oncode InstituteHubrecht Institute ‐ Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and University Medical Centre UtrechtUtrechtThe Netherlands
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, BiologyScience FacultyUtrecht UniversityUtrechtThe Netherlands
- Present address:
Unité d'EcologieSystématique et EvolutionCNRSUniversité Paris‐SudUniversité Paris‐SaclayAgroParisTechOrsayFrance
| | - Lisa van Voorthuijsen
- Oncode InstituteDepartment of Molecular BiologyFaculty of ScienceRadboud Institute for Molecular Life ScienceRadboud University NijmegenNijmegenThe Netherlands
| | - Laura E van Rooijen
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, BiologyScience FacultyUtrecht UniversityUtrechtThe Netherlands
| | - Jens Verbeeren
- Institute of BiotechnologyHelsinki Institute of Life ScienceUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Esther C H Uijttewaal
- Oncode InstituteHubrecht Institute ‐ Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and University Medical Centre UtrechtUtrechtThe Netherlands
| | - Marijke P A Baltissen
- Oncode InstituteDepartment of Molecular BiologyFaculty of ScienceRadboud Institute for Molecular Life ScienceRadboud University NijmegenNijmegenThe Netherlands
| | - Shawn Yost
- Division of Genetics and EpidemiologyInstitute of Cancer ResearchLondonUK
| | - Philippe Piloquet
- Service de Génétique MédicaleUnité de génétique CliniqueCHU Hotel DieuNantes CedexFrance
| | - Michiel Vermeulen
- Oncode InstituteDepartment of Molecular BiologyFaculty of ScienceRadboud Institute for Molecular Life ScienceRadboud University NijmegenNijmegenThe Netherlands
| | - Berend Snel
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, BiologyScience FacultyUtrecht UniversityUtrechtThe Netherlands
| | - Bertrand Isidor
- Service de Génétique MédicaleUnité de génétique CliniqueCHU Hotel DieuNantes CedexFrance
| | - Nazneen Rahman
- Division of Genetics and EpidemiologyInstitute of Cancer ResearchLondonUK
| | - Mikko J Frilander
- Institute of BiotechnologyHelsinki Institute of Life ScienceUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Geert J P L Kops
- Oncode InstituteHubrecht Institute ‐ Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and University Medical Centre UtrechtUtrechtThe Netherlands
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22
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Minor Intron Splicing from Basic Science to Disease. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22116062. [PMID: 34199764 PMCID: PMC8199999 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22116062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Revised: 05/17/2021] [Accepted: 05/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Pre-mRNA splicing is an essential step in gene expression and is catalyzed by two machineries in eukaryotes: the major (U2 type) and minor (U12 type) spliceosomes. While the majority of introns in humans are U2 type, less than 0.4% are U12 type, also known as minor introns (mi-INTs), and require a specialized spliceosome composed of U11, U12, U4atac, U5, and U6atac snRNPs. The high evolutionary conservation and apparent splicing inefficiency of U12 introns have set them apart from their major counterparts and led to speculations on the purpose for their existence. However, recent studies challenged the simple concept of mi-INTs splicing inefficiency due to low abundance of their spliceosome and confirmed their regulatory role in alternative splicing, significantly impacting the expression of their host genes. Additionally, a growing list of minor spliceosome-associated diseases with tissue-specific pathologies affirmed the importance of minor splicing as a key regulatory pathway, which when deregulated could lead to tissue-specific pathologies due to specific alterations in the expression of some minor-intron-containing genes. Consequently, uncovering how mi-INTs splicing is regulated in a tissue-specific manner would allow for better understanding of disease pathogenesis and pave the way for novel therapies, which we highlight in this review.
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Daniels NJ, Hershberger CE, Gu X, Schueger C, DiPasquale WM, Brick J, Saunthararajah Y, Maciejewski JP, Padgett RA. Functional analyses of human LUC7-like proteins involved in splicing regulation and myeloid neoplasms. Cell Rep 2021; 35:108989. [PMID: 33852859 PMCID: PMC8078730 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Revised: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Vertebrates have evolved three paralogs, termed LUC7L, LUC7L2, and LUC7L3, of the essential yeast U1 small nuclear RNA (snRNA)-associated splicing factor Luc7p. We investigated the mechanistic and regulatory functions of these putative splicing factors, of which one (LUC7L2) is mutated or deleted in myeloid neoplasms. Protein interaction data show that all three proteins bind similar core but distinct regulatory splicing factors, probably mediated through their divergent arginine-serine-rich domains, which are not present in Luc7p. Knockdown of each factor reveals mostly unique sets of significantly dysregulated alternative splicing events dependent on their binding locations, which are largely non-overlapping. Notably, knockdown of LUC7L2 alone significantly upregulates the expression of multiple spliceosomal factors and downregulates glycolysis genes, possibly contributing to disease pathogenesis. RNA binding studies reveal that LUC7L2 and LUC7L3 crosslink to weak 5' splice sites and to the 5' end of U1 snRNA, establishing an evolutionarily conserved role in 5' splice site selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noah J Daniels
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; Department of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Courtney E Hershberger
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; Department of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Xiaorong Gu
- Department of Translational Hematology and Oncology Research, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Caroline Schueger
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; Department of Translational Hematology and Oncology Research, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - William M DiPasquale
- Department of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Jonathan Brick
- Department of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Yogen Saunthararajah
- Department of Translational Hematology and Oncology Research, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Jaroslaw P Maciejewski
- Department of Translational Hematology and Oncology Research, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Richard A Padgett
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; Department of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
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24
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The biological function and clinical significance of SF3B1 mutations in cancer. Biomark Res 2020; 8:38. [PMID: 32905346 PMCID: PMC7469106 DOI: 10.1186/s40364-020-00220-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2020] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Spliceosome mutations have become the most interesting mutations detected in human cancer in recent years. The spliceosome, a large, dynamic multimegadalton small nuclear ribonucleoprotein composed of small nuclear RNAs associated with proteins, is responsible for removing introns from precursor mRNA (premRNA) and generating mature, spliced mRNAs. SF3B1 is the largest subunit of the spliceosome factor 3b (SF3B) complex, which is a core component of spliceosomes. Recurrent somatic mutations in SF3B1 have been detected in human cancers, including hematological malignancies and solid tumors, and indicated to be related to patient prognosis. This review summarizes the research progress of SF3B1 mutations in cancer, including SF3B1 mutations in the HEAT domain, the multiple roles and aberrant splicing events of SF3B1 mutations in the pathogenesis of tumors, and changes in mutated cancer cells regarding sensitivity to SF3B small-molecule inhibitors. In addition, the potential of SF3B1 or its mutations to serve as biomarkers or therapeutic targets in cancer is discussed. The accumulated knowledge about SF3B1 mutations in cancer provides critical insight into the integral role the SF3B1 protein plays in mRNA splicing and suggests new targets for anticancer therapy.
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