Project description:Intron retention (IR) is an alternative splicing event where mRNAs containing unspliced introns are exported to the cytoplasm and then either translated, giving rise to new protein isoforms, or degraded via the nonsense-mediated decay pathway. However, unspliced introns are also seen in nuclear RNA. Some of these are spliced at a low rate but do eventually become fully spliced and their respective mRNAs exported, while others stay retained and are recognized by nuclear decay machineries. IR has been shown to be regulated during granulocyte and neuronal differentiation and in some cancers, and a subset of the nuclear retained introns, called detained introns, have been implicated in growth control pathways. Despite many findings on IR and its biological significance, it is still not clear whether an incompletely spliced intron observed is a true retained intron that is exported as an mRNA or is a product of slow splicing that remains in the nucleus. A better understanding is needed of the molecular events that reduce intron excision rate and determine the release of an RNA for export. We have found that some genes in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) produce RNAs that are highly associated with the high molecular-weight nuclear pellet (chromatin), rather than the soluble nucleoplasm or cytoplasm. This chromatin-associated RNA is polyadenylated, usually contains one or more incompletely spliced introns, and is often extensively bound by polypyrimidine tract-binding protein 1 (PTBP1). We hypothesize that PTBP1 inhibits splicing of these introns, and this causes sequestration of the transcript on chromatin. We are studying the role of PTBP1 in inhibiting intron excision and anchoring RNAs in the nuclear and chromatin compartments of mESCs.
Project description:The nucleus is highly compartmentalized through the formation of distinct classes of membraneless domains, yet the composition and function of many of these structures is not well understood. Using APEX2-mediated proximity labelling and RNA sequencing, we surveyed transcripts associated with nuclear speckles, several additional domains, and the lamina. Remarkably, speckles and lamina are associated with distinct classes of retained introns enriched in genes that function in RNA processing, translation, and the cell cycle. In contrast to the lamina-proximal introns, retained introns associated with speckles are relatively short, GC-rich, and enriched for functional sites of RNA binding proteins that are concentrated in these domains. They are also highly differentially regulated across diverse cellular contexts, including the cell cycle. Our study thus provides a resource of nuclear domain-associated transcripts and further reveals speckles and lamina as hubs of distinct populations of retained introns linked to gene regulation and cell cycle progression.
Project description:PTBP1 and PTBP2 control alternative splicing programs during neuronal development, but the cellular functions of most PTBP1/2-regulated isoforms remain unknown. We show that PTBP1 guides developmental gene expression by regulating the transcription factor Pbx1. We identify exons that are differentially spliced when mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) differentiate into neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) and neurons, and transition from PTBP1 to PTBP2 expression. We define those exons controlled by PTBP1 in ESCs and NPCs by RNA-seq analysis after PTBP1 depletion and PTBP1 crosslinking-immunoprecipitation. We find that PTBP1 represses Pbx1 exon 7 and the expression of its neuronal isoform Pbx1a in ESC. Using CRISPR-Cas9 to delete regulatory elements for exon 7, we induce Pbx1a expression in ESCs, finding that this activates transcription of specific neuronal genes including known Pbx1 targets. Thus PTBP1 controls the activity of Pbx1 and suppresses its neuronal transcriptional program prior to differentiation. HB9-GFP mESCs were differentiated into mNPCs and mMNs. Poly-A RNA was isolated from isolated populations of mESCs, mNPCs, and mMNs for RNA-sequencing and splicing analyses.
Project description:We examined the role of PTBP1 in regulation of co-transcriptional splicing process by depleting this RNA-binding protein from embryonic stem cells using the auxin-inducible degron technology and analysing the total and chromatin-associated RNA fractions by RNA-seq. We also performed mNET-seq and ChIP-seq analyses using RNA polymerase II- and PTBP1-specific antibodies, respectively. Our data suggest that PTBP1 activates co-transcriptional splicing of hundreds of introns, a surprising effect given that PTBP1 is better known as a splicing repressor. Importantly, some co-transcriptionally activated introns fail to be spliced post-transcriptionally without PTBP1. In a striking example of this regulation, lasting retention of a PTBP1-dependent intron triggers nonsense-mediated decay of mRNAs encoding DNA methyltransferase DNMT3B, explaining their natural expression dynamics in development. Our further analyses suggest that this mechanism may protect differentiation-specific genes from aberrant methylation. We conclude that PTBP1-activated co-transcriptional splicing underlies biologically important decisions.
Project description:PTBP1 and PTBP2 control alternative splicing programs during neuronal development, but the cellular functions of most PTBP1/2-regulated isoforms remain unknown. We show that PTBP1 guides developmental gene expression by regulating the transcription factor Pbx1. We identify exons that are differentially spliced when mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) differentiate into neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) and neurons, and transition from PTBP1 to PTBP2 expression. We define those exons controlled by PTBP1 in ESCs and NPCs by RNA-seq analysis after PTBP1 depletion and PTBP1 crosslinking-immunoprecipitation. We find that PTBP1 represses Pbx1 exon 7 and the expression of its neuronal isoform Pbx1a in ESC. Using CRISPR-Cas9 to delete regulatory elements for exon 7, we induce Pbx1a expression in ESCs, finding that this activates transcription of specific neuronal genes including known Pbx1 targets. Thus PTBP1 controls the activity of Pbx1 and suppresses its neuronal transcriptional program prior to differentiation. 46C mESCs and mNPCs were cross-linked at 100 mJ/cm2. Cell pellets were collected and flash-frozen for iCLIP library preparation. Libraries were subjected to 100 single-end RNA-sequencing.
Project description:PTBP1 and PTBP2 control alternative splicing programs during neuronal development, but the cellular functions of most PTBP1/2-regulated isoforms remain unknown. We show that PTBP1 guides developmental gene expression by regulating the transcription factor Pbx1. We identify exons that are differentially spliced when mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) differentiate into neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) and neurons, and transition from PTBP1 to PTBP2 expression. We define those exons controlled by PTBP1 in ESCs and NPCs by RNA-seq analysis after PTBP1 depletion and PTBP1 crosslinking-immunoprecipitation. We find that PTBP1 represses Pbx1 exon 7 and the expression of its neuronal isoform Pbx1a in ESC. Using CRISPR-Cas9 to delete regulatory elements for exon 7, we induce Pbx1a expression in ESCs, finding that this activates transcription of specific neuronal genes including known Pbx1 targets. Thus PTBP1 controls the activity of Pbx1 and suppresses its neuronal transcriptional program prior to differentiation. 46C mESCs were treated with 20 nM control, Ptbp1, Ptbp2, or Ptbp1 and Ptbp2 siRNAs for 72 hours. The knockdowns were performed using 2 independent sets of siRNAs, including one biological replicate. Poly-A RNA was isolated for RNA-sequencing and splicing analyses.
Project description:Control of metazoan embryogenesis shifts from maternal to zygotic gene products as the zygotic genome becomes transcriptionally activated. In Drosophila, zygotic genome activation (ZGA) begins with a minor wave, but technical challenges have hampered the identification of early transcripts or obscured the onset of their transcription. Here, we develop an approach to isolate transcribed mRNAs and apply it over the course of the minor wave and the start of the major wave of Drosophila ZGA. Our results increase known genes of the minor wave by 10 fold and show that this wave is continuous and gradual. Transposable-element mRNAs are also produced, but discontinuously. Genes in the early and middle part of the minor wave are short with few if any introns, and their transcripts are frequently aborted and tend to have retained introns, suggesting that inefficient splicing as well as rapid cell divisions constrain the lengths of early transcripts.
Project description:RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) bind at different positions of pre-mRNA molecules to promote or reduce the usage of a particular exon. Seeking to understand the working principle of these positional effects, we develop a capture RIC-seq (CRIC-seq) method to enrich specific RBP-associated in situ proximal RNA-RNA fragments for deep sequencing. We determine hnRNPA1-, SRSF1-, and PTBP1-associated proximal RNA-RNA contacts and regulatory mechanisms in HeLa cells. Unexpectedly, the 3D RNA map analysis shows that PTBP1-associated loops in individual introns preferentially promote cassette exon splicing by accelerating asymmetric intron removal, whereas the loops spanning across cassette exon primarily repress splicing. These “positional rules” can faithfully predict PTBP1-regulated splicing outcomes. We further demonstrate that cancer-related splicing quantitative trait loci can disrupt RNA loops by reducing PTBP1 binding on pre-mRNAs to cause aberrant splicing in tumors. Our study presents a powerful method for exploring the functions of RBP-associated RNA-RNA proximal contacts in gene regulation and disease.