Alternative trans-splicing of Caenorhabditis elegans sma-9/schnurri generates a short transcript that provides tissue-specific function in BMP signaling.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Transcription cofactors related to Drosophila Schnurri facilitate the transcriptional programs regulated by BMP signaling in C. elegans, Drosophila, Xenopus, and mouse. In different systems, Schnurri homologs have been shown to act as either agonists or antagonists of Smad function, and as either positive or negative regulators of transcription. How Schnurri proteins achieve this diversity of activities is not clear. The C. elegans sma-9/schnurri locus undergoes alternative splicing, including an unusual trans-splicing event that could generate two non-overlapping shorter transcripts.

Results

We demonstrate here that the shorter transcripts are expressed in vivo. Furthermore, we find that one of the short transcripts plays a tissue-specific role in sma-9 function,

SUBMITTER: Yin J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2904332 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature