Shedding UV light on alternative splicing.

After DNA damage, cells modulate pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) splicing to induce an anti- or proapoptotic response. In this issue, Muñoz et al. (2009) uncover a cotranscriptional mechanism for activating alternative pre-mRNA splicing after ultraviolet irradiation that depends unexpectedly on hyperphosphorylation of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain and decreased rates of transcription elongation.