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Bauer M, Schöbel CM, Wickenhauser C, Seliger B, Jasinski-Bergner S. Deciphering the role of alternative splicing in neoplastic diseases for immune-oncological therapies. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1386993. [PMID: 38736877 PMCID: PMC11082354 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1386993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Alternative splicing (AS) is an important molecular biological mechanism regulated by complex mechanisms involving a plethora of cis and trans-acting elements. Furthermore, AS is tissue specific and altered in various pathologies, including infectious, inflammatory, and neoplastic diseases. Recently developed immuno-oncological therapies include monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting, among others, immune checkpoint (ICP) molecules. Despite therapeutic successes have been demonstrated, only a limited number of patients showed long-term benefit from these therapies with tumor entity-related differential response rates were observed. Interestingly, splice variants of common immunotherapeutic targets generated by AS are able to completely escape and/or reduce the efficacy of mAb- and/or CAR-based tumor immunotherapies. Therefore, the analyses of splicing patterns of targeted molecules in tumor specimens prior to therapy might help correct stratification, thereby increasing therapy success by antibody panel selection and antibody dosages. In addition, the expression of certain splicing factors has been linked with the patients' outcome, thereby highlighting their putative prognostic potential. Outstanding questions are addressed to translate the findings into clinical application. This review article provides an overview of the role of AS in (tumor) diseases, its molecular mechanisms, clinical relevance, and therapy response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus Bauer
- Institute of Pathology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Chiara-Maria Schöbel
- Institute for Translational Immunology, Brandenburg Medical School (MHB), Theodor Fontane, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany
| | - Claudia Wickenhauser
- Institute of Pathology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Barbara Seliger
- Institute for Translational Immunology, Brandenburg Medical School (MHB), Theodor Fontane, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany
- Department of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Development & Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP) Design, Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI), Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Medical Faculty, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Simon Jasinski-Bergner
- Institute for Translational Immunology, Brandenburg Medical School (MHB), Theodor Fontane, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany
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2
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Xie JQ, Zhou X, Jia ZC, Su CF, Zhang Y, Fernie AR, Zhang J, Du ZY, Chen MX. Alternative Splicing, An Overlooked Defense Frontier of Plants with Respect to Bacterial Infection. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2023. [PMID: 37916838 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c04163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
Disease represents a major problem in sustainable agricultural development. Plants interact closely with various microorganisms during their development and in response to the prevailing environment. In particular, pathogenic microorganisms can cause plant diseases, affecting the fertility, yield, and longevity of plants. During the long coevolution of plants and their pathogens, plants have evolved both molecular pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI) signaling networks in order to regulate host cells in response to pathogen infestation. Additionally, in the postgenomic era, alternative splicing (AS) has become uncovered as one of the major drivers of proteome diversity, and abnormal RNA splicing is closely associated with bacterial infections. Currently, the complexity of host-bacteria interactions is a much studied area of research that has shown steady progress over the past decade. Although the development of high-throughput sequencing technologies and their application in transcriptomes have revolutionized our understanding of AS, many mechanisms related to host-bacteria interactions remain still unclear. To this end, this review summarizes the changes observed in AS during host-bacteria interactions and outlines potential therapeutics for bacterial diseases based on existing studies. In doing so, we hope to provide guidelines for plant disease management in agriculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji-Qin Xie
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education), College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro-bioengineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550025, China
| | - Xiang Zhou
- National Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide, Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Center for R&D of Fine Chemicals of Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
| | - Zi-Chang Jia
- National Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide, Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Center for R&D of Fine Chemicals of Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
| | - Chang-Feng Su
- Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education), College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agro-bioengineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550025, China
| | - Youjun Zhang
- Center of Plant System Biology and Biotechnology, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam, Golm, Germany
| | - Alisdair R Fernie
- Center of Plant System Biology and Biotechnology, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam, Golm, Germany
| | - Jianhua Zhang
- Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, and State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Zhi-Yan Du
- Department of Molecular Biosciences & Bioengineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, United States
| | - Mo-Xian Chen
- National Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide, Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Center for R&D of Fine Chemicals of Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
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3
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Borovská I, Vořechovský I, Královičová J. Alu RNA fold links splicing with signal recognition particle proteins. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:8199-8216. [PMID: 37309897 PMCID: PMC10450188 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Revised: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Transcriptomic diversity in primates was considerably expanded by exonizations of intronic Alu elements. To better understand their cellular mechanisms we have used structure-based mutagenesis coupled with functional and proteomic assays to study the impact of successive primate mutations and their combinations on inclusion of a sense-oriented AluJ exon in the human F8 gene. We show that the splicing outcome was better predicted by consecutive RNA conformation changes than by computationally derived splicing regulatory motifs. We also demonstrate an involvement of SRP9/14 (signal recognition particle) heterodimer in splicing regulation of Alu-derived exons. Nucleotide substitutions that accumulated during primate evolution relaxed the conserved left-arm AluJ structure including helix H1 and reduced the capacity of SRP9/14 to stabilize the closed Alu conformation. RNA secondary structure-constrained mutations that promoted open Y-shaped conformations of the Alu made the Alu exon inclusion reliant on DHX9. Finally, we identified additional SRP9/14 sensitive Alu exons and predicted their functional roles in the cell. Together, these results provide unique insights into architectural elements required for sense Alu exonization, identify conserved pre-mRNA structures involved in exon selection and point to a possible chaperone activity of SRP9/14 outside the mammalian signal recognition particle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivana Borovská
- Institute of Molecular Physiology and Genetics, Centre of Biosciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 840 05, Slovak Republic
| | - Igor Vořechovský
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, HDH, MP808, Southampton SO16 6YD, United Kingdom
| | - Jana Královičová
- Institute of Molecular Physiology and Genetics, Centre of Biosciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 840 05, Slovak Republic
- Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 845 06, Slovak Republic
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4
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Li R, Gao S, Chen H, Zhang X, Yang X, Zhao J, Wang Z. Virus usurps alternative splicing to clear the decks for infection. Virol J 2023; 20:131. [PMID: 37340420 DOI: 10.1186/s12985-023-02098-9] [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: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Since invasion, there will be a tug-of-war between host and virus to scramble cellular resources, for either restraining or facilitating infection. Alternative splicing (AS) is a conserved and critical mechanism of processing pre-mRNA into mRNAs to increase protein diversity in eukaryotes. Notably, this kind of post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism has gained appreciation since it is widely involved in virus infection. Here, we highlight the important roles of AS in regulating viral protein expression and how virus in turn hijacks AS to antagonize host immune response. This review will widen the understandings of host-virus interactions, be meaningful to innovatively elucidate viral pathogenesis, and provide novel targets for developing antiviral drugs in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruixue Li
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Shenyan Gao
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Huayuan Chen
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaozhan Zhang
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan University of Animal Husbandry and Economy, Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Xia Yang
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Jun Zhao
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Zeng Wang
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China.
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5
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Horn T, Gosliga A, Li C, Enculescu M, Legewie S. Position-dependent effects of RNA-binding proteins in the context of co-transcriptional splicing. NPJ Syst Biol Appl 2023; 9:1. [PMID: 36653378 PMCID: PMC9849329 DOI: 10.1038/s41540-022-00264-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Alternative splicing is an important step in eukaryotic mRNA pre-processing which increases the complexity of gene expression programs, but is frequently altered in disease. Previous work on the regulation of alternative splicing has demonstrated that splicing is controlled by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and by epigenetic DNA/histone modifications which affect splicing by changing the speed of polymerase-mediated pre-mRNA transcription. The interplay of these different layers of splicing regulation is poorly understood. In this paper, we derived mathematical models describing how splicing decisions in a three-exon gene are made by combinatorial spliceosome binding to splice sites during ongoing transcription. We additionally take into account the effect of a regulatory RBP and find that the RBP binding position within the sequence is a key determinant of how RNA polymerase velocity affects splicing. Based on these results, we explain paradoxical observations in the experimental literature and further derive rules explaining why the same RBP can act as inhibitor or activator of cassette exon inclusion depending on its binding position. Finally, we derive a stochastic description of co-transcriptional splicing regulation at the single-cell level and show that splicing outcomes show little noise and follow a binomial distribution despite complex regulation by a multitude of factors. Taken together, our simulations demonstrate the robustness of splicing outcomes and reveal that quantitative insights into kinetic competition of co-transcriptional events are required to fully understand this important mechanism of gene expression diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timur Horn
- grid.424631.60000 0004 1794 1771Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Ackermannweg 4, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Alison Gosliga
- grid.424631.60000 0004 1794 1771Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Ackermannweg 4, 55128 Mainz, Germany ,grid.5719.a0000 0004 1936 9713University of Stuttgart, Department of Systems Biology and Stuttgart Research Center Systems Biology (SRCSB), Allmandring 31, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Congxin Li
- grid.5719.a0000 0004 1936 9713University of Stuttgart, Department of Systems Biology and Stuttgart Research Center Systems Biology (SRCSB), Allmandring 31, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Mihaela Enculescu
- Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Ackermannweg 4, 55128, Mainz, Germany.
| | - Stefan Legewie
- Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Ackermannweg 4, 55128, Mainz, Germany. .,University of Stuttgart, Department of Systems Biology and Stuttgart Research Center Systems Biology (SRCSB), Allmandring 31, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
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6
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Kwiatkowski M, Hotze M, Schumacher J, Asif AR, Pittol JMR, Brenig B, Ramljak S, Zischler H, Herlyn H. Protein speciation is likely to increase the chance of proteins to be determined in 2‐DE/MS. Electrophoresis 2022; 43:1203-1214. [DOI: 10.1002/elps.202000393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Revised: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marcel Kwiatkowski
- Department of Biochemistry and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
| | - Madlen Hotze
- Department of Biochemistry and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
| | | | - Abdul R. Asif
- Department of Clinical Chemistry/UMG‐Laboratories University Medical Center Göttingen Germany
| | - Jose Miguel Ramos Pittol
- Department of Biochemistry and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
| | - Bertram Brenig
- Department of Molecular Biology of Livestock Institute of Veterinary Medicine University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany
| | | | - Hans Zischler
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Anthropology University of Mainz Mainz Germany
| | - Holger Herlyn
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Anthropology University of Mainz Mainz Germany
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7
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Gañez-Zapater A, Mackowiak SD, Guo Y, Tarbier M, Jordán-Pla A, Friedländer MR, Visa N, Östlund Farrants AK. The SWI/SNF subunit BRG1 affects alternative splicing by changing RNA binding factor interactions with nascent RNA. Mol Genet Genomics 2022; 297:463-484. [PMID: 35187582 PMCID: PMC8960663 DOI: 10.1007/s00438-022-01863-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 01/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
BRG1 and BRM are ATPase core subunits of the human SWI/SNF chromatin remodelling complexes mainly associated with transcriptional initiation. They also have a role in alternative splicing, which has been shown for BRM-containing SWI/SNF complexes at a few genes. Here, we have identified a subset of genes which harbour alternative exons that are affected by SWI/SNF ATPases by expressing the ATPases BRG1 and BRM in C33A cells, a BRG1- and BRM-deficient cell line, and analysed the effect on splicing by RNA sequencing. BRG1- and BRM-affected sub-sets of genes favouring both exon inclusion and exon skipping, with only a minor overlap between the ATPase. Some of the changes in alternative splicing induced by BRG1 and BRM expression did not require the ATPase activity. The BRG1-ATPase independent included exons displayed an exon signature of a high GC content. By investigating three genes with exons affected by the BRG-ATPase-deficient variant, we show that these exons accumulated phosphorylated RNA pol II CTD, both serine 2 and serine 5 phosphorylation, without an enrichment of the RNA polymerase II. The ATPases were recruited to the alternative exons, together with both core and signature subunits of SWI/SNF complexes, and promoted the binding of RNA binding factors to chromatin and RNA at the alternative exons. The interaction with the nascent RNP, however, did not reflect the association to chromatin. The hnRNPL, hnRNPU and SAM68 proteins associated with chromatin in cells expressing BRG1 and BRM wild type, but the binding of hnRNPU to the nascent RNP was excluded. This suggests that SWI/SNF can regulate alternative splicing by interacting with splicing-RNA binding factor and influence their binding to the nascent pre-mRNA particle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoni Gañez-Zapater
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, The Arrhenius Laboratories F4, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
- Center for Genomic Regulation, 08003, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sebastian D Mackowiak
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
- Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Ihnestraße 63-73, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Yuan Guo
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, The Arrhenius Laboratories F4, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Marcel Tarbier
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Antonio Jordán-Pla
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, The Arrhenius Laboratories F4, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
- Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencies Biológicas, Valencia University, C/Dr. Moliner, 50, 46100, Burjassot, Spain
| | - Marc R Friedländer
- Science for Life Laboratory, Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Neus Visa
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, The Arrhenius Laboratories F4, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ann-Kristin Östlund Farrants
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, The Arrhenius Laboratories F4, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.
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8
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Qi X, Gu H, Qu L. Transcriptome-Wide Analyses Identify Dominant as the Predominantly Non-Conservative Alternative Splicing Inheritance Patterns in F1 Chickens. Front Genet 2021; 12:774240. [PMID: 34925458 PMCID: PMC8678468 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.774240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Transcriptome analysis has been used to investigate many economically traits in chickens; however, alternative splicing still lacks a systematic method of study that is able to promote proteome diversity, and fine-tune expression dynamics. Hybridization has been widely utilized in chicken breeding due to the resulting heterosis, but the dynamic changes in alternative splicing during this process are significant yet unclear. In this study, we performed a reciprocal crossing experiment involving the White Leghorn and Cornish Game chicken breeds which exhibit major differences in body size and reproductive traits, and conducted RNA sequencing of the brain, muscle, and liver tissues to identify the inheritance patterns. A total of 40 515 and 42 612 events were respectively detected in the brain and muscle tissues, with 39 843 observed in the liver; 2807, 4242, and 4538 events significantly different between two breeds were identified in the brain, muscle, and liver tissues, respectively. The hierarchical cluster of tissues from different tissues from all crosses, based on the alternative splicing profiles, suggests high tissue and strain specificity. Furthermore, a comparison between parental strains and hybrid crosses indicated that over one third of alternative splicing genes showed conserved patterns in all three tissues, while the second prevalent pattern was non-additive, which included both dominant and transgressive patterns; this meant that the dominant pattern plays a more important role than suppression. Our study provides an overview of the inheritance patterns of alternative splicing in layer and broiler chickens, to better understand post-transcriptional regulation during hybridization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Qi
- Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
| | - Hongchang Gu
- Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
| | - Lujiang Qu
- Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
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9
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Mukhopadhyay J, Hausner G. Organellar Introns in Fungi, Algae, and Plants. Cells 2021; 10:cells10082001. [PMID: 34440770 PMCID: PMC8393795 DOI: 10.3390/cells10082001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2021] [Revised: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 08/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Introns are ubiquitous in eukaryotic genomes and have long been considered as ‘junk RNA’ but the huge energy expenditure in their transcription, removal, and degradation indicate that they may have functional significance and can offer evolutionary advantages. In fungi, plants and algae introns make a significant contribution to the size of the organellar genomes. Organellar introns are classified as catalytic self-splicing introns that can be categorized as either Group I or Group II introns. There are some biases, with Group I introns being more frequently encountered in fungal mitochondrial genomes, whereas among plants Group II introns dominate within the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes. Organellar introns can encode a variety of proteins, such as maturases, homing endonucleases, reverse transcriptases, and, in some cases, ribosomal proteins, along with other novel open reading frames. Although organellar introns are viewed to be ribozymes, they do interact with various intron- or nuclear genome-encoded protein factors that assist in the intron RNA to fold into competent splicing structures, or facilitate the turn-over of intron RNAs to prevent reverse splicing. Organellar introns are also known to be involved in non-canonical splicing, such as backsplicing and trans-splicing which can result in novel splicing products or, in some instances, compensate for the fragmentation of genes by recombination events. In organellar genomes, Group I and II introns may exist in nested intronic arrangements, such as introns within introns, referred to as twintrons, where splicing of the external intron may be dependent on splicing of the internal intron. These nested or complex introns, with two or three-component intron modules, are being explored as platforms for alternative splicing and their possible function as molecular switches for modulating gene expression which could be potentially applied towards heterologous gene expression. This review explores recent findings on organellar Group I and II introns, focusing on splicing and mobility mechanisms aided by associated intron/nuclear encoded proteins and their potential roles in organellar gene expression and cross talk between nuclear and organellar genomes. Potential application for these types of elements in biotechnology are also discussed.
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MESH Headings
- Evolution, Molecular
- Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal
- Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
- Genome, Fungal
- Genome, Plant
- Introns
- Organelles/genetics
- Organelles/metabolism
- RNA Splicing
- RNA Stability
- RNA, Algal/genetics
- RNA, Algal/metabolism
- RNA, Fungal/genetics
- RNA, Fungal/metabolism
- RNA, Plant/genetics
- RNA, Plant/metabolism
- RNA, Untranslated/genetics
- RNA, Untranslated/metabolism
- Transcription, Genetic
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10
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Taylor K, Sobczak K. Intrinsic Regulatory Role of RNA Structural Arrangement in Alternative Splicing Control. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:ijms21145161. [PMID: 32708277 PMCID: PMC7404189 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21145161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 07/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Alternative splicing is a highly sophisticated process, playing a significant role in posttranscriptional gene expression and underlying the diversity and complexity of organisms. Its regulation is multilayered, including an intrinsic role of RNA structural arrangement which undergoes time- and tissue-specific alterations. In this review, we describe the principles of RNA structural arrangement and briefly decipher its cis- and trans-acting cellular modulators which serve as crucial determinants of biological functionality of the RNA structure. Subsequently, we engage in a discussion about the RNA structure-mediated mechanisms of alternative splicing regulation. On one hand, the impairment of formation of optimal RNA structures may have critical consequences for the splicing outcome and further contribute to understanding the pathomechanism of severe disorders. On the other hand, the structural aspects of RNA became significant features taken into consideration in the endeavor of finding potential therapeutic treatments. Both aspects have been addressed by us emphasizing the importance of ongoing studies in both fields.
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11
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Uzdensky AB. Multifunctional Proteins. Biophysics (Nagoya-shi) 2020. [DOI: 10.1134/s0006350920030227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
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12
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Enculescu M, Braun S, Thonta Setty S, Busch A, Zarnack K, König J, Legewie S. Exon Definition Facilitates Reliable Control of Alternative Splicing in the RON Proto-Oncogene. Biophys J 2020; 118:2027-2041. [PMID: 32336349 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2020.02.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2019] [Revised: 02/14/2020] [Accepted: 02/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Alternative splicing is a key step in eukaryotic gene expression that allows for the production of multiple transcript and protein isoforms from the same gene. Even though splicing is perturbed in many diseases, we currently lack insights into regulatory mechanisms promoting its precision and efficiency. We analyze high-throughput mutagenesis data obtained for an alternatively spliced exon in the proto-oncogene RON and determine the functional units that control this splicing event. Using mathematical modeling of distinct splicing mechanisms, we show that alternative splicing is based in RON on a so-called "exon definition" mechanism. Here, the recognition of the adjacent exons by the spliceosome is required for removal of an intron. We use our model to analyze the differences between the exon and intron definition scenarios and find that exon definition prevents the accumulation of deleterious, partially spliced retention products during alternative splicing regulation. Furthermore, it modularizes splicing control, as multiple regulatory inputs are integrated into a common net input, irrespective of the location and nature of the corresponding cis-regulatory elements in the pre-messenger RNA. Our analysis suggests that exon definition promotes robust and reliable splicing outcomes in RON splicing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Simon Braun
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany
| | - Samarth Thonta Setty
- Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Anke Busch
- Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany
| | - Kathi Zarnack
- Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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