Project description:Using RNA-Seq analysis of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) mutant strains, we show that many Saccharomyces cerevisiae intron-containing genes exhibit usage of alternative splice sites, but most transcripts generated by splicing from these sites are non-functional because they introduce premature termination codons leading to transcript degradation by NMD. Analysis of splicing mutants combined with NMD inactivation revealed the role of specific splicing factors in governing the use of these alternative splice sites and identified novel functions for Prp17p in enhancing the use of branchpoint-proximal upstream 3’ splice sites and for Prp18p in suppressing the usage of a non-canonical AUG 3’-splice site. The use of non-productive alternative splice sites can limit the expression of some transcripts and can be increased in stress conditions in a promoter-dependent manner, contributing to the down-regulation of genes during stress. These results reveal that alternative splicing is frequent in S.cerevisiae but masked by RNA degradation and that the use of alternative splice sites is mostly aimed at controlling transcript levels rather than increasing proteome diversity.
Project description:Using RNA-Seq analysis of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) mutant strains, we show that many Saccharomyces cerevisiae intron-containing genes exhibit usage of alternative splice sites, but most transcripts generated by splicing from these sites are non-functional because they introduce premature termination codons leading to transcript degradation by NMD. Analysis of splicing mutants combined with NMD inactivation revealed the role of specific splicing factors in governing the use of these alternative splice sites and identified novel functions for Prp17p in enhancing the use of branchpoint-proximal upstream 3M-bM-^@M-^Y splice sites and for Prp18p in suppressing the usage of a non-canonical AUG 3M-bM-^@M-^Y-splice site. The use of non-productive alternative splice sites can limit the expression of some transcripts and can be increased in stress conditions in a promoter-dependent manner, contributing to the down-regulation of genes during stress. These results reveal that alternative splicing is frequent in S.cerevisiae but masked by RNA degradation and that the use of alternative splice sites is mostly aimed at controlling transcript levels rather than increasing proteome diversity. mRNA-Seq profiling of 3 mutants in the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway and wildtype yeast
Project description:Pre-mRNA splicing is vital for the proper function and regulation of eukaryotic gene expression. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used as a model organism for studies of RNA splicing because of the striking conservation of the spliceosome and its catalytic activity. Nonetheless, there are relatively few annotated alternative splice forms, particularly when compared to higher eukaryotes. Here, we describe a method to combine large scale RNA sequencing data to accurately discover novel splice isoforms in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using our method, we find extensive evidence for novel splicing of annotated intron-containing genes as well as genes without previously annotated introns and splicing of transcripts that are antisense to annotated genes. By incorporating several mutant strains at varied temperatures, we find conditions which lead to differences in alternative splice form usage. Despite this, every class and category of alternative splicing we find in our datasets is found, often at lower frequency, in wildtype cells under normal growth conditions. Together, these findings show that there is widespread splicing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Project description:Different from canonical ubiquitin-like proteins, Hub1 does not form covalent conjugates with substrates but binds proteins non-covalently. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Hub1 associates with spliceosomes and mediates alternative splicing of SRC1, without affecting pre-mRNA splicing generally. Human Hub1 is highly similar to its yeast homolog, but its cellular function remains largely unexplored. Here, we show that human Hub1 binds to the spliceosomal protein Snu66 as in yeast, however, unlike its S. cerevisiae homolog, human Hub1 is essential for viability. Prolonged in vivo depletion of human Hub1 leads to various cellular defects, including splicing speckle abnormalities, partial nuclear retention of mRNAs, mitotic catastrophe and consequently cell death by apoptosis. Early consequences of Hub1 depletion are severe splicing defects, however, only for specific splice sites leading to exon skipping and intron retention. Thus, the ubiquitin-like protein Hub1 is not a canonical spliceosomal factor needed generally for splicing, but rather a modulator of spliceosome performance and facilitator of alternative splicing.
Project description:The use of alternative polyadenylation sites is common and affects the post-transcriptional fate of mRNA, including its stability, localization, and translation. Here we present a method for genome-wide and strand-specific mapping of poly(A) sites and quantification of RNA levels at unprecedented efficiency by using an on-cluster dark T-fill procedure on the Illumina sequencing platform. Our method outperforms former protocols in quality and throughput, and reveals new insights into polyadenylation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Experimental benchmark of five different protocols (3tfill, bpmI, internal, rnaseq and yoon) for genome-wide identification of polyadenylation sites in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and transcript quantification. RNA was extracted from WT cells grown in glucose (ypd) or galactose (ypgal) as carbon source. The same RNA was used for 3 independent library constructions (technical replicates, rep).
Project description:Adjacent alternative 3’ splice sites, those separated by ≤18nt, provide a unique problem in the study of alternative splicing regulation; there is overlap of the cis-elements that define the adjacent sites. Identification of the intron's 3' end depends upon sequence elements that define the branchpoint, polypyrimidine tract and terminal AG dinucleotide. Starting with RNA-seq data from germline-enriched and somatic cell-enriched C. elegans samples, we identify hundreds of introns with adjacent alternative 3’ splice sites. We identify 203 events that undergo tissue-specific alternative splicing. For these, the regulation is mono-directional, with somatic cells preferring to splice at the distal 3' splice site and germline cells showing a distinct shift towards usage of the adjacent proximal 3' splice site. Splicing patterns in somatic cells follow consensus rules of 3’ splice site definition, using sites with a short stretch of pyrimidines and an AG dinucleotide. Splicing in germline cells occurs at proximal 3' splice sites that frequently lack a polypyrimidine tract or, occasionally, the AG dinucleotide. We provide evidence that use of germline-specific proximal 3' splice sites is conserved across Caenorhabditis species. We propose that divergent mechanisms exist between germline and somatic cells in determining an intron terminus at adjacent alternative 3’ splice sites. Examination of alternative splicing changes between germline- and somatic-cell enriched samples as well as nonsense-mediated decay mutants.
Project description:The use of alternative polyadenylation sites is common and affects the post-transcriptional fate of mRNA, including its stability, localization, and translation. Here we present a method for genome-wide and strand-specific mapping of poly(A) sites and quantification of RNA levels at unprecedented efficiency by using an on-cluster dark T-fill procedure on the Illumina sequencing platform. Our method outperforms former protocols in quality and throughput, and reveals new insights into polyadenylation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Project description:Different from canonical ubiquitin-like proteins, Hub1 does not form covalent conjugates with substrates but binds proteins non-covalently. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Hub1 associates with spliceosomes and mediates alternative splicing of SRC1, without affecting pre-mRNA splicing generally. Human Hub1 is highly similar to its yeast homolog, but its cellular function remains largely unexplored. Here, we show that human Hub1 binds to the spliceosomal protein Snu66 as in yeast, however, unlike its S. cerevisiae homolog, human Hub1 is essential for viability. Prolonged in vivo depletion of human Hub1 leads to various cellular defects, including splicing speckle abnormalities, partial nuclear retention of mRNAs, mitotic catastrophe and consequently cell death by apoptosis. Early consequences of Hub1 depletion are severe splicing defects, however, only for specific splice sites leading to exon skipping and intron retention. Thus, the ubiquitin-like protein Hub1 is not a canonical spliceosomal factor needed generally for splicing, but rather a modulator of spliceosome performance and facilitator of alternative splicing. Human U2OS cells were transfected with siRNAs to specifically knockdown the ubiquitn-like protein Hub1. Cells treated with non-targeting oligos (GL2) served as negative control. Total RNAs of three biological replicates of each knockdown experiment were isolated and changes of splicing patterns were subsequently analyzed by Affymetrix GeneChip Human Exon 1.0 ST arrays