Splicing accuracy varies across human introns, tissues and age.

Alternative splicing impacts most multi-exonic human genes. Inaccuracies during this process may have an important role in ageing and disease. Here, we investigated mis-splicing using RNA-sequencing data from ~14K control samples and 42 human body sites, focusing on split reads partially mapping to known transcripts in annotation. We show that mis-splicing occurs at different rates across introns and tissues and that these splicing inaccuracies are primarily affected by the abundance of core components of the spliceosome assembly and its regulators. Using publicly available data on short-hairpin RNA-knockdowns of numerous spliceosomal components and related regulators, we found support for the importance of RNA-binding proteins in mis-splicing. We also demonstrated that age is positively correlated with mis-splicing, and it affects genes implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. This in-depth characterisation of mis-splicing can have important implications for our understanding of the role of splicing inaccuracies in human disease and the interpretation of long-read RNA-sequencing data.

RNA processing.

Significant progress has been made over the last year in our understanding of the roles that RNA-binding proteins play in pre-mRNA splicing, the components of the spliceosome and how these components relate to the mechanism of splicing. Of particular importance has been the sequence analysis of the first mammalian splicing factors and structural determination of an RNA-binding domain.

Biochemistry and regulation of pre-mRNA splicing.

During the past year, significant advances have been made in the field of pre-mRNA splicing. It is now clear that members of the serine-arginine-rich protein family are key players in exon definition and function at multiple steps in the spliceosome cycle. Novel findings have been made concerning the role of exon sequences, which function as both constitutive and regulated enhancers of splicing, in trans-splicing and as targets for tissue-specific control of splicing patterns. By combining biochemical approaches in human and yeast extracts with genetic analysis, much has been learned about the RNA-RNA and RNA-protein interactions that are necessary to assemble the various complexes that are found along the pathway to the catalytically active spliceosome.

A mammalian host-vector system that regulates expression and amplification of transfected genes by temperature induction.

SV40-transformed simian cells that permit temperature-dependent regulation of vector DNA replication were isolated and characterized. These cell lines (ts COS cells) produce high levels of thermolabile large T antigen under the transcriptional control of the Rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat. The ts COS cell lines can complement SV40 A gene mutants and support replication of SV40-origin containing vectors at 33 degrees C but not at 40 degrees C. It should now be possible to regulate the copy number of transfected plasmid DNA's and also maintain selectable vector sequences either as integrated DNA or as autonomously replicating episomes by modulating T antigen activity in ts COS cells.

Regulated splicing of the Drosophila P transposable element third intron in vitro: somatic repression.

In eukaryotic cells alternative splicing of messenger RNA precursors (pre-mRNA's) is a means of regulating gene expression. Although a number of the components that participate in regulating some alternative splicing events have been identified by molecular genetic procedures, the elucidation of the biochemical mechanisms governing alternative splicing requires in vitro reaction systems. The tissue specificity of P element transposition in Drosophila depends on the germline restriction of pre-mRNA splicing of the P element third intron (IVS3). Drosophila P element IVS3 pre-mRNA substrates were spliced accurately in vitro in heterologous human cell extracts but not in Drosophila somatic cell splicing extracts. Components in Drosophila somatic cell extracts that specifically inhibited IVS3 splicing in vitro were detected by a complementation assay. Biochemical assays for Drosophila RNA binding proteins were then used to detect a 97-kilodalton protein that interacts specifically with 5' exon sequences previously implicated in the control of IVS3 splicing in vivo. Inhibition of IVS3 splicing in vitro could be correlated with binding of the 97-kD protein to 5' exon sequences, suggesting that one aspect of IVS3 tissue-specific splicing involves somatic repression by specific RNA-protein interactions.

The conserved pre-mRNA splicing factor U2AF from Drosophila: requirement for viability.

The large subunit of the human pre-messenger RNA splicing factor U2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein auxiliary factor (hU2AF65) is required for spliceosome assembly in vitro. A complementary DNA clone encoding the large subunit of Drosophila U2AF (dU2AF50) has been isolated. The dU2AF50 protein is closely related to its mammalian counterpart and contains three carboxyl-terminal ribonucleoprotein consensus sequence RNA binding domains and an amino-terminal arginine- and serine-rich (R/S) domain. Recombinant dU2AF50 protein complements mammalian splicing extracts depleted of U2AF activity. Germline transformation of Drosophila with the dU2AF50 complementary DNA rescues a lethal mutation, establishing that the dU2AF50 gene is essential for viability. R/S domains have been found in numerous metazoan splicing factors, but their function is unknown. The mutation in Drosophila U2AF will allow in vivo analysis of a conserved R/S domain-containing general splicing factor.

Splicing of pre-mRNA: mechanism, regulation and role in development.

Over the past year, significant progress has been made in the understanding of how RNA-binding factors may facilitate splice-site selection and spliceosome assembly, and confer fidelity to the pre-mRNA splicing reaction. In addition, a number of studies have revealed a complex network of RNA-RNA interactions in the spliceosome, strengthening the structural and functional parallels between nuclear pre-mRNA splicing and the self-splicing group I and group II introns. These new data further support the idea that pre-mRNA splicing occurs by RNA-mediated catalysis and illustrate quite dramatically the dynamic nature of conformational changes in the spliceosome cycle. With respect to tissue-specific pre-mRNA splicing, a number of studies have begun to illuminate mechanisms underlying control of splice-site selection and how so-called 'general' RNA-binding proteins, such as heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins, may be involved in determining different splicing patterns. Finally, an emerging theme involving the role of splicing in development is that differential transcriptional programs can be triggered in different cell types by alternative splicing patterns that generate transcription factor isoforms with different activities or DNA-binding specificities.

Regulation of Drosophila P element transposition.

Drosophila P transposable elements are the best-studied family of eukaryotic non-retroviral transposons. P element transposition is regulated in several different ways and has thus provided a unique system with which to study the control of DNA rearrangements and gene expression in metazoans. Recent genetic and biochemical experiments have begun to shed light on the mechanism of P element transposition and the mechanisms controlling the temporal and spatial patterns of transposition.

Transformation of cultured Drosophila melanogaster cells with a dominant selectable marker.

We have developed a method for the stable and efficient introduction of foreign DNA into Drosophila melanogaster tissue culture cells. A plasmid vector was constructed that carries the bacterial neomycin resistance gene under the transcriptional control of the copia transposable element long terminal repeat promoter. After calcium phosphate-DNA transfection, this vector rendered D. melanogaster cells resistant to the aminoglycoside G-418, a derivative of gentamicin. The vector DNA appeared to be integrated in long tandem arrays of 10 to 20 copies per cell and was stable for many generations in the absence of selection. To test the usefulness of this system for introducing nonselected DNA into D. melanogaster cells, a gene fusion between the P transposable element and the hsp70 promoter was inserted into the copia-neomycin resistance plasmid. After transfection and establishment of a G-418-resistant cell line, the hsp-P fusion gene was found to be efficiently transcribed after heat shock.

trans Activation of the simian virus 40 enhancer.

We describe experiments which demonstrated that the simian virus 40 (SV40) enhancer affects certain transcriptional units differently. We also found that a specific enhancer-transcriptional unit interaction can be regulated by trans-acting factors. Using transient assays, we examined the effects of the SV40 enhancer on herpesvirus thymidine kinase (tk) RNA levels when transcription was initiated either by the herpesvirus tk promoter or by an SV40 early promoter-tk fusion. We were unable to detect any effect of the enhancer on transcription from the tk promoter in CV-1 or HeLa cells. However, we found that the addition of T-antigen in trans allowed the enhancer to stimulate expression from the tk promoter. This induction by T-antigen did not require T-antigen-binding sites in cis and appeared to be an indirect effect. In contrast, tk expression from the SV40 early promoter fusion was greatly stimulated by the enhancer in CV-1 cells. Furthermore, in 293 cells the SV40 enhancer had only a marginal effect on the SV40 promoter-tk fusion, whereas it strongly stimulated tk expression from the tk promoter. Our results raise the possibility that the enhancer function may not show cell specificity per se; rather, the interaction between the enhancer and a specific gene may be responsible for cell specificity. We discuss these observations in terms of the SV40 early gene-to-late gene switch that occurs during SV40 lytic growth.

The Drosophila P-element KP repressor protein dimerizes and interacts with multiple sites on P-element DNA.

Drosophila P elements are mobile DNA elements that encode an 87-kDa transposase enzyme and transpositional repressor proteins. One of these repressor proteins is the 207-amino-acid KP protein which is encoded by a naturally occurring P element with an internal deletion. To study the molecular mechanisms by which KP represses transposition, the protein was expressed, purified, and characterized. We show that the KP protein binds to multiple sites on the ends of P-element DNA, unlike the full-length transposase protein. These sites include the high-affinity transposase binding site, an 11-bp transpositional enhancer, and, at the highest concentrations tested, the terminal 31-hp inverted repeats. The DNA binding domain was localized to the N-terminal 98 amino acids and contains a CCHC sequence, a potential metal binding motif. We also demonstrate that the KP repressor protein can dimerize and contains two protein-protein interaction regions and that this dimerization is essential for high-affinity DNA binding.

Interaction between subunits of heterodimeric splicing factor U2AF is essential in vivo.

The heterodimeric pre-mRNA splicing factor, U2AF (U2 snRNP auxiliary factor), plays a critical role in 3' splice site selection. Although the U2AF subunits associate in a tight complex, biochemical experiments designed to address the requirement for both subunits in splicing have yielded conflicting results. We have taken a genetic approach to assess the requirement for the Drosophila U2AF heterodimer in vivo. We developed a novel Escherichia coli copurification assay to map the domain on the Drosophila U2AF large subunit (dU2AF50) that interacts with the Drosophila small subunit (dU2AF38). A 28-amino-acid fragment on dU2AF50 that is both necessary and sufficient for interaction with dU2AF38 was identified. Using the copurification assay, we scanned this 28-amino-acid interaction domain for mutations that abrogate heterodimer formation. A collection of these dU2AF50 point mutants was then tested in vivo for genetic complementation of a recessive lethal dU2AF50 allele. A mutation that completely abolished interaction with dU2AF38 was incapable of complementation, whereas dU2AF50 mutations that did not effect heterodimer formation rescued the recessive lethal dU2AF50 allele. Analysis of heterodimer formation in embryo extracts derived from these interaction mutant lines revealed a perfect correlation between the efficiency of subunit association and the ability to complement the dU2AF50 recessive lethal allele. These data indicate that Drosophila U2AF heterodimer formation is essential for viability in vivo, consistent with a requirement for both subunits in splicing in vitro.

Mutations in the hrp48 gene, which encodes a Drosophila heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle protein, cause lethality and developmental defects and affect P-element third-intron splicing in vivo.

The Drosophila melanogaster hnRNP protein, hrp48, is an abundant heterogeneous nuclear RNA-associated protein. Previous biochemical studies have implicated hrp48 as a component of a ribonucleoprotein complex involved in the regulation of the tissue-specific alternative splicing of the P-element third intron (IVS3). We have taken a genetic approach to analyzing the role of hrp48. Mutations in the hrp48 gene were identified and characterized. hrp48 is an essential gene. Hypomorphic mutations which reduce the level of hrp48 protein display developmental defects, including reduced numbers of ommatidia in the eye and morphological bristle abnormalities. Using a P-element third-intron reporter transgene, we found that reduced levels of hrp48 partially relieve IVS3 splicing inhibition in somatic cells. This is the first direct evidence that hrp48 plays a functional role in IVS3 splicing inhibition.

RNA binding activity of heterodimeric splicing factor U2AF: at least one RS domain is required for high-affinity binding.

The pre-mRNA splicing factor U2AF (U2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle [snRNP] auxiliary factor) plays a critical role in 3' splice site selection. U2AF binds site specifically to the intron pyrimidine tract between the branchpoint and the 3' splice site and targets U2 snRNP to the branch site at an early step in spliceosome assembly. Human U2AF is a heterodimer composed of large (hU2AF65) and small (hU2AF35) subunits. hU2AF65 contains an arginine-serine-rich (RS) domain and three RNA recognition motifs (RRMs). hU2AF35 has a degenerate RRM and a carboxyl-terminal RS domain. Genetic studies have recently shown that the RS domains on the Drosophila U2AF subunit homologs are each inessential and might have redundant functions in vivo. The site-specific pyrimidine tract binding activity of the U2AF heterodimer has previously been assigned to hU2AF65. While the requirement for the three RRMs on hU2AF65 is firmly established, a role for the large-subunit RS domain in RNA binding remains unresolved. We have analyzed the RNA binding activity of the U2AF heterodimer in vitro. When the Drosophila small-subunit homolog (dU2AF38) was complexed with the large-subunit (dU2AF50) pyrimidine tract, RNA binding activity increased 20-fold over that of free dU2AF50. We detected a similar increase in RNA binding activity when we compared the human U2AF heterodimer and hU2AF65. Surprisingly, the RS domain on dU2AF38 was necessary for the increased binding activity of the dU2AF heterodimer. In addition, removal of the RS domain from the Drosophila large-subunit monomer (dU2AF50DeltaRS) severely impaired its binding activity. However, if the dU2AF38 RS domain was supplied in a complex with dU2AF50DeltaRS, high-affinity binding was restored. These results suggest that the presence of one RS domain of U2AF, on either the large or small subunit, promotes high-affinity pyrimidine tract RNA binding activity, consistent with redundant roles for the U2AF RS domains in vivo.

Evidence for Drosophila P element transposase activity in mammalian cells and yeast.

Drosophila P element transposase expression is limited to the germline by tissue-specific splicing of one of its three introns. Removal of this intron by mutagenesis in vitro has allowed both P element excision and transposition to be detected in Drosophila somatic tissues. In order to determine if P element transposase can function in other organisms, we have expressed modified P elements either lacking one intron or lacking all three introns in mammalian cells and yeast, respectively. Using an assay for P element excision, we have detected apparent excision events in cultured monkey cells. Furthermore, expression of the complete P element cDNA is lethal to Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells carrying a mutation in the RAD52 gene, indicating that double-stranded DNA breaks are generated, presumably by transposase action.

Trans-silencing by P elements inserted in subtelomeric heterochromatin involves the Drosophila Polycomb group gene, Enhancer of zeste.

Drosophila P-element transposition is regulated by a maternally inherited state known as P cytotype. An important aspect of P cytotype is transcriptional repression of the P-element promoter. P cytotype can also repress non-P-element promoters within P-element ends, suggesting that P cytotype repression might involve chromatin-based transcriptional silencing. To learn more about the role of chromatin in P cytotype repression, we have been studying the P strain Lk-P(1A). This strain contains two full-length P elements inserted in the heterochromatic telomere-associated sequences (TAS elements) at cytological location 1A. Mutations in the Polycomb group gene (Pc-G gene), Enhancer of zeste (E(z)), whose protein product binds at 1A, resulted in a loss of Lk-P(1A) cytotype control. E(z) mutations also affected the trans-silencing of heterologous promoters between P-element termini by P-element transgenes inserted in the TAS repeats. These data suggest that pairing interactions between P elements, resulting in exchange of chromatin structures, may be a mechanism for controlling the expression and activity of P elements.

Cytotype control of Drosophila melanogaster P element transposition: genomic position determines maternal repression.

P element transposition in Drosophila is controlled by the cytotype regulatory state: in P cytotype, transposition is repressed, whereas in M cytotype, transposition can occur. P cytotype is determined by a combination of maternally inherited factors and chromosomal P elements in the zygote. Transformant strains containing single elements that encoded the 66-kD P element protein zygotically repressed transposition, but did not display the maternal repression characteristic of P cytotype. Upon mobilization to new genomic positions, some of these repressor elements showed significant maternal repression of transposition in genetic assays, involving a true maternal effect. Thus, the genomic position of repressor elements can determine the maternal vs. zygotic inheritance of P cytotype. Immunoblotting experiments indicate that this genomic position effect does not operate solely by controlling the expression level of the 66-kD repressor protein during oogenesis. Likewise, P element derivatives containing the hsp26 maternal regulator sequence expressed high levels of the 66-kD protein during oogenesis, but showed no detectable maternal repression. These data suggest that the location of a repressor element in the genome may determine maternal inheritance of P cytotype by a mechanism involving more than the overall level of expression of the 66-kD protein in the ovary.