Splicing segregation: the minor spliceosome acts outside the nucleus and controls cell proliferation

Harald König, Nathalie Matter, Rüdiger Bader, Wilko Thiele, Ferenc Müller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The functional relevance and the evolution of two parallel mRNA splicing systems in eukaryotes--a major and minor spliceosome that differ in abundance and splicing rate--are poorly understood. We report here that partially spliced pre-mRNAs containing minor-class introns undergo nuclear export and that minor-class snRNAs are predominantly cytoplasmic in vertebrates. Cytoplasmic interference with the minor spliceosome further indicated its functional segregation from the nucleus. In keeping with this, minor splicing was only weakly affected during mitosis. By selectively interfering with snRNA function in zebrafish development and in mammalian cells, we revealed a conserved role for minor splicing in cell-cycle progression. We argue that the segregation of the splicing systems allows for processing of partially unspliced cytoplasmic transcripts, emerging as a result of different splicing rates. The segregation offers a mechanism accounting for spliceosome evolution in a single lineage and provides a means for nucleus-independent control of gene expression.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)718-729
Number of pages12
JournalCell
Volume131
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Nov 2007

Bibliographical note

Available under an Elsevier user license

Keywords

  • Animals
  • Apoptosis
  • Cell Nucleus
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cytoplasm
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Introns
  • Mice
  • Mitosis
  • NIH 3T3 Cells
  • RNA Precursors
  • RNA Splicing
  • RNA, Messenger
  • RNA, Small Nuclear
  • Spliceosomes
  • Zebrafish

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