Lin Kai-Ti, Lu Ruei-Min, Tarn Woan-Yuh
Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, 128 Academy Rd., Section 2, Nankang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan.
Mol Cell Biol. 2004 Oct;24(20):9176-85. doi: 10.1128/MCB.24.20.9176-9185.2004.
A growing body of evidence supports the coordination of mRNA synthesis and its subsequent processing events. Nuclear proteins harboring both WW and FF protein interaction modules bind to splicing factors as well as RNA polymerase II and may serve to link transcription with splicing. To understand how WW domains coordinate the assembly of splicing complexes, we used glutathione S-transferase fusions containing WW domains from CA150 or FBP11 in pull-down experiments with HeLa cell nuclear extract. The WW domains associate preferentially with the U2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein and with splicing factors SF1, U2AF, and components of the SF3 complex. Accordingly, WW domain-associating factors bind to the 3' part of a pre-mRNA to form a pre-spliceosome-like complex. We performed both in vitro and in vivo splicing assays to explore the role of WW/FF domain-containing proteins in this process. However, although CA150 is associated with the spliceosome, it appears to be dispensable for splicing in vitro. Nevertheless, in vivo depletion of CA150 substantially reduced splicing efficiency of a reporter pre-mRNA. Moreover, overexpression of CA150 fragments containing both WW and FF domains activated splicing and modulated alternative exon selection, probably by facilitating 3' splice site recognition. Our results suggest an essential role of WW/FF domain-containing factors in pre-mRNA splicing that likely occurs in concert with transcription in vivo.
越来越多的证据支持信使核糖核酸(mRNA)合成及其后续加工事件的协调。含有WW和FF蛋白相互作用模块的核蛋白与剪接因子以及RNA聚合酶II结合,可能起到将转录与剪接联系起来的作用。为了了解WW结构域如何协调剪接复合体的组装,我们在与HeLa细胞核提取物的下拉实验中使用了含有CA150或FBP11的WW结构域的谷胱甘肽S-转移酶融合蛋白。WW结构域优先与U2小核核糖核蛋白以及剪接因子SF1、U2AF和SF3复合体的组分结合。因此,与WW结构域相关的因子与前体mRNA的3'部分结合,形成类似前剪接体的复合体。我们进行了体外和体内剪接试验,以探究含WW/FF结构域的蛋白在此过程中的作用。然而,尽管CA150与剪接体相关,但它在体外剪接中似乎是可有可无的。尽管如此,体内敲除CA150会显著降低报告基因前体mRNA的剪接效率。此外,含有WW和FF结构域的CA150片段的过表达激活了剪接并调节了可变外显子的选择,这可能是通过促进3'剪接位点的识别来实现的。我们的结果表明,含WW/FF结构域的因子在前体mRNA剪接中起着至关重要的作用,这可能在体内与转录协同发生。