Project description:The goal of this study is to identify the effect of inhibition of Aurora-A kinase activity on gene expression and RNA splicing. The perturbation of Aurora-A is well known to affect cell cycle distribution. Therefore, we coupled the inhibition of Aurora-A with cell synchronization procedure in order to avoid the indirect effect of cell cycle perturbation on splicing changes. The mRNA -seq libraries were prepared and subjected to paired-end sequencing on Illumina HiSeq 2500 lanes. Differential gene expression and splicing analysis were carried using the edgeR tool and VAST-tools respectively. The RNA seq analysis identified that pharmacological inhibition of Aurora-A affects alternative splicing of 505 genes while having a marginal effect on gene expression. Overall our work identified Aurora-A as a novel splicing kinase and for the first time, describes a broad role of Aurora-A in regulating alternative splicing.
Project description:Aurora B kinase, as part of the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC), controls key processes during the cell cycle such as DNA compaction, genome partitioning or cytokinesis. Nonetheless, increased Aurora B levels are a potential threat for the cells and have been linked to different tumor types. We have carried out an exhaustive characterization of the global consequences of the overexpression of Aurora B and INCENP, the scaffold of the CPC and an activator of Aurora B kinase activity, in non-transformed human cells. Our data demonstrate, not only that an individual increase in the levels of Aurora B or INCENP have a different impact on the cells, but more importantly that their simultaneous overexpression stabilizes both CPC components, exacerbates Aurora B activity, severely impairs mitotic progression and chromosome dynamics, and has a distinctive and more dramatic effect on the transcriptional landscape of the cells.
Project description:The cell cycle regulator Aurora-A kinase presents an attractive target for cancer therapies, though its inhibition is also associated with toxic side effects. To gain a more nuanced understanding of Aurora-A function, we applied shotgun proteomics to identify 407 specific protein partners, including several splicing factors. Supporting a role in alternative splicing, we found that Aurora-A localizes to nuclear speckles, the storehouse of splicing proteins. Aurora-A interacts with and phosphorylates splicing factors both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that it regulates alternative splicing by modulating the activity of these splicing factors. Consistently, Aurora-A inhibition significantly impacts the alternative splicing of 505 genes, with RNA motif analysis revealing an enrichment for Aurora-A interacting splicing factors. Additionally, we observed a significant positive correlation between the splicing events regulated by Aurora-A and those modulated by its interacting splicing factors. An interesting example is represented by CLK1 exon 4, which appears to be regulated by Aurora-A through SRSF3. Collectively, our findings highlight a broad role of Aurora-A in the regulation of alternative splicing.