The alternative splicing program of differentiated smooth muscle cells involves concerted non-productive splicing of post-transcriptional regulators

Alternative splicing (AS) is a key component of gene expression programs that drive cellular differentiation. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are important in the function of a number of physiological systems; however, investigation of SMC AS has been restricted to a handful of events. We profiled transc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Llorian, Miriam, Gooding, Clare, Bellora Pereyra, Nicolás, Hallegger, Martina, Buckroyd, Adrian, Wang, Xiao, Rajgor, Dipen, Kayikci, Melis, Feltham, Jack, Ule, Jernej, Eyras Jiménez, Eduardo, Smith, Christopher, W. J.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/28205
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/28205
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkw560
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Transcription
Genetic
Muscle
Smooth
Alternative splicing
Exons
Introns
RNA splicing
Mice
Myocytes
Smooth muscle
Descripción
Sumario:Alternative splicing (AS) is a key component of gene expression programs that drive cellular differentiation. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are important in the function of a number of physiological systems; however, investigation of SMC AS has been restricted to a handful of events. We profiled transcriptome changes in mouse de-differentiating SMCs and observed changes in hundreds of AS events. Exons included in differentiated cells were characterized by particularly weak splice sites and by upstream binding sites for Polypyrimidine Tract Binding protein (PTBP1). Consistent with this, knockdown experiments showed that that PTBP1 represses many smooth muscle specific exons. We also observed coordinated splicing changes predicted to downregulate the expression of core components of U1 and U2 snRNPs, splicing regulators and other post-transcriptional factors in differentiated cells. The levels of cognate proteins were lower or similar in differentiated compared to undifferentiated cells. However, levels of snRNAs did not follow the expression of splicing proteins, and in the case of U1 snRNP we saw reciprocal changes in the levels of U1 snRNA and U1 snRNP proteins. Our results suggest that the AS program in differentiated SMCs is orchestrated by the combined influence of auxiliary RNA binding proteins, such as PTBP1, along with altered activity and stoichiometry of the core splicing machinery.