Project description:Spliceosomal introns are ubiquitous non-coding RNAs typically destined for rapid debranching and degradation. Here, we describe 34 excised Saccharomyces cerevisiae introns that, although rapidly degraded in log-phase growth, accumulate as linear RNAs under either saturated-growth conditions or other stresses that cause prolonged inhibition of TORC1, a key integrator of growth signaling. Introns that become stabilized remain associated with components of the spliceosome and differ from other spliceosomal introns in having a short distance between their lariat branch point and 3´ splice site, which is necessary and sufficient for their stabilization. Deletion of these unusual introns is disadvantageous in saturated conditions and causes aberrantly high growth rates of yeast chronically challenged with the TORC1 inhibitor rapamycin. Reintroduction of native or engineered stable introns suppresses this aberrant rapamycin response. Thus, excised introns function within the TOR growth-signaling network of S. cerevisiae, and more generally, excised spliceosomal introns can have biological functions.
Project description:Introns in pre-mRNAs must be spliced out prior to their translation. During splicing, introns are removed in the form of a lariat, in which the 5' end is linked to the 2' hydroxyl of an internal adenosine. Lariat degradation is initiated by an 2'-5' phosphodiester-specific RNA endonuclease which debranches these lariat RNAs to linear form. Deletion of the debranching enzyme is yeast results in the accumulation of lariat introns. We used this accumulation to identify spliced lariat introns on a genome-wide scale in S. cerevisiae using tiling microarrays. Keywords: two sample comparison, 3 biological replicates
Project description:High density yeast tiling array reveals new introns and extensive meiotic splicing regulation. Knowing gene structure is vital to understanding gene function, and accurate genome annotation is essential for understanding cellular function. To this end, we have developed an assay for genome-wide mapping of introns in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using high-density tiling arrays we compared wild type yeast to a mutant deficient for intron degradation. Our method identified 76% of the known introns, verified the existence of an additional 18 predicted introns, and revealed six new introns. Furthermore, we discovered that all 13 meiosis-specific intronic yeast genes undergo regulated splicing, which provides post-transcriptional regulation of the genes involved in yeast cell differentiation. Moreover, we found that >10% of intronic genes in yeast are incompletely spliced during exponential growth in rich media, suggesting that meiosis is not the only cellular function regulated by splicing. The method provides a clear snapshot of the spliced transcriptome in yeast. Our tiling array assay can be used to explore a variety of cellular environments and should be readily adaptable to the study of other organisms including humans.
Project description:Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are components of epigenetic control mechanisms that ensure appropriate and timely gene expression. The functions of lncRNAs are often mediated through associated gene regulatory activities, but how lncRNAs are distinguished from other RNAs and recruit effector complexes is unclear. Here we utilize the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe to investigate how lncRNAs engage silencing activities to regulate gene expression in cis. We find that invasion of lncRNA transcription into the downstream gene body incorporates a cryptic intron required for repression of that gene. Our analyses show that lncRNAs containing cryptic introns are targeted by the conserved Pir2ARS2 protein in association with splicing factors, which recruit RNA processing and chromatin modifying activities involved in gene silencing. Pir2 and splicing machinery are broadly required for gene repression. Our finding that human ARS2 also interacts with splicing factors suggests a conserved mechanism mediates gene repression through cryptic introns within lncRNAs.
Project description:Spliced messages constitute one-fourth of expressed mRNAs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and most mRNAs in metazoans. Splicing requires 5' splice site (5'SS), branch point (BP), and 3' splice site (3'SS) elements, but the role of the BP in splicing control is poorly understood because BP identification remains difficult. We developed a high-throughput method, Branch-seq, to map BP and 5'SS of isolated RNA lariats. Applied to S. cerevisiae, Branch-seq detected 76% of expressed, annotated BPs and identified a comparable number of novel BPs. We used RNA-seq to confirm associated 3'SS locations, identifying some 200 novel splice junctions, including an AT-AC intron. We show that several yeast introns use two or even three different BPs, with effects on 3'SS choice, protein coding potential, or RNA stability and identify novel introns whose splicing changes during meiosis or in response to stress. Together, these findings reveal BP-based regulation and demonstrate unanticipated complexity of splicing in yeast. 1 Lariat-seq experiment library. 3 barcoded Branch-seq libraries that make up one experiment. 26 RNA-seq samples, 2 biological replicates of each.
Project description:Removal of introns by pre-mRNA splicing is a critical and in some cases rate-limiting step in mammalian gene expression. Deep sequencing of mouse embryonic stem cell RNA revealed many specific internal introns that are significantly more abundant than the other introns within poly(A) selected transcripts; we classify these as “detained” introns (DIs). We identified thousands of DIs flanking both constitutive and alternatively spliced exons in human and mouse cell lines. Drug inhibition of Clk SR-protein kinase activity triggered rapid splicing changes in a specific set of DIs, about half of which showed increased splicing and half increased intron detention, altering the transcript pool of over 300 genes. These data suggest a widespread mechanism by which a nuclear detained pool of mostly processed pre-mRNAs can be rapidly mobilized in response to stress or homeostatic autoregulation. v6.5 mouse embryonic stem cells were untreated, treated with the Clk kinase inhibitor KH-CB19, or treated with DMSO as a negative control. Untreated cells were harvested and a single replicate was sequenced using a custom, ligation-based, stranded library preparation protocol. Treated cells were harvested at time 0 and at 2 hours post-treatment, and poly(A)-selected RNA-seq libraries were made from biological duplicates for each treatment/time, barcoded, and sequenced by strand-specific, paired-end sequencing using the Illumina TruSeq kit.
Project description:Spliced messages constitute one-fourth of expressed mRNAs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and most mRNAs in metazoans. Splicing requires 5' splice site (5'SS), branch point (BP), and 3' splice site (3'SS) elements, but the role of the BP in splicing control is poorly understood because BP identification remains difficult. We developed a high-throughput method, Branch-seq, to map BP and 5'SS of isolated RNA lariats. Applied to S. cerevisiae, Branch-seq detected 76% of expressed, annotated BPs and identified a comparable number of novel BPs. We used RNA-seq to confirm associated 3'SS locations, identifying some 200 novel splice junctions, including an AT-AC intron. We show that several yeast introns use two or even three different BPs, with effects on 3'SS choice, protein coding potential, or RNA stability and identify novel introns whose splicing changes during meiosis or in response to stress. Together, these findings reveal BP-based regulation and demonstrate unanticipated complexity of splicing in yeast.
Project description:In eukaryotic cells, inefficient splicing is surprisingly common and leads to degradation of transcripts with retained introns. How pre-mRNAs are committed to nuclear decay is unknown. Here we uncover a mechanism by which intronic transcripts are targeted for nuclear degradation in fission yeast. Surprisingly, sequence elements within âsuicidalâ introns co-transcriptionally recruit the exosome adaptor Mmi1 not only to degrade unspliced precursor, but also to downregulate levels of the resulting mRNA. Under conditions permissive for fast splicing, Mmi1 is no longer recruited and negative expression regulation is relieved. This mechanism negatively regulates levels of the RNA-helicase DDX5/Dbp2 to ensure cell survival in response to stress. We propose that suicidal introns are maintained because they facilitate regulation of gene expression. We identify multiple novel Mmi1 targets including mRNAs, non-coding RNAs, and sn/snoRNAs. We suggest a general role in RNA regulation for Mmi1 beyond degradation of meiotic transcripts. Two biological replicates of CRAC experiments (Control and Mmi1-HTP). Six RNAseq datasets in total: three biological replicates of wt and delta Mmi1 strain.