Eye Development under the control of SRp55/B52-Mediated Alternative Splicing of eyeless

The genetic programs specifying eye development are highly conserved during evolution and involve the vertebrate Pax-6 gene and its Drosophila melanogaster homolog eyeless (ey). Here we report that the SR protein B52/SRp55 controls a novel developmentally regulated splicing event of eyeless that is crucial for eye growth and specification in Drosophila. B52/SRp55 generates two isoforms of eyeless differing by an alternative exon encoding a 60-amino-acid insert at the beginning of the paired domain. The long isoform has impaired ability to trigger formation of ectopic eyes and to bind efficiently Eyeless target DNA sequences in vitro. When over-produced in the eye imaginal disc, this isoform induces a small eye phenotype, whereas the isoform lacking the alternative exon triggers eye over-growth and strong disorganization. Our results suggest that B52/SRp55 splicing activity is used during normal eye development to control eye organogenesis and size through regulation of eyeless alternative splicing

Comparative Analysis of Serine/Arginine-Rich Proteins across 27 Eukaryotes: Insights into Sub-Family Classification and Extent of Alternative Splicing

Alternative splicing (AS) of pre-mRNA is a fundamental molecular process that generates diversity in the transcriptome and proteome of eukaryotic organisms. SR proteins, a family of splicing regulators with one or two RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) at the N-terminus and an arg/ser-rich domain at the C-terminus, function in both constitutive and alternative splicing. We identified SR proteins in 27 eukaryotic species, which include plants, animals, fungi and “basal” eukaryotes that lie outside of these lineages. Using RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) as a phylogenetic marker, we classified 272 SR genes into robust sub-families. The SR gene family can be split into five major groupings, which can be further separated into 11 distinct sub-families. Most flowering plants have double or nearly double the number of SR genes found in vertebrates. The majority of plant SR genes are under purifying selection. Moreover, in all paralogous SR genes in Arabidopsis, rice, soybean and maize, one of the two paralogs is preferentially expressed throughout plant development. We also assessed the extent of AS in SR genes based on a splice graph approach (http://combi.cs.colostate.edu/as/gmap_SRgenes). AS of SR genes is a widespread phenomenon throughout multiple lineages, with alternative 3′ or 5′ splicing events being the most prominent type of event. However, plant-enriched sub-families have 57%–88% of their SR genes experiencing some type of AS compared to the 40%–54% seen in other sub-families. The SR gene family is pervasive throughout multiple eukaryotic lineages, conserved in sequence and domain organization, but differs in gene number across lineages with an abundance of SR genes in flowering plants. The higher number of alternatively spliced SR genes in plants emphasizes the importance of AS in generating splice variants in these organisms

Regulation of Plant Developmental Processes by a Novel Splicing Factor

Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins play important roles in constitutive and alternative splicing and other aspects of mRNA metabolism. We have previously isolated a unique plant SR protein (SR45) with atypical domain organization. However, the biological and molecular functions of this novel SR protein are not known. Here, we report biological and molecular functions of this protein. Using an in vitro splicing complementation assay, we showed that SR45 functions as an essential splicing factor. Furthermore, the alternative splicing pattern of transcripts of several other SR genes was altered in a mutant, sr45-1, suggesting that the observed phenotypic abnormalities in sr45-1 are likely due to altered levels of SR protein isoforms, which in turn modulate splicing of other pre-mRNAs. sr45-1 exhibited developmental abnormalities, including delayed flowering, narrow leaves and altered number of petals and stamens. The late flowering phenotype was observed under both long days and short days and was rescued by vernalization. FLC, a key flowering repressor, is up-regulated in sr45-1 demonstrating that SR45 influences the autonomous flowering pathway. Changes in the alternative splicing of SR genes and the phenotypic defects in the mutant were rescued by SR45 cDNA, further confirming that the observed defects in the mutant are due to the lack of SR45. These results indicate that SR45 is a novel plant-specific splicing factor that plays a crucial role in regulating developmental processes