Fu Diyi, Song Yue, Wu Shifeng, Peng Yue, Ming Yuhang, Li Zhuoyang, Zhang Xiaoyan, Song Wen, Su Zhen, Gong Zhizhong, Yang Shuhua, Shi Yiting
State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience and Frontiers Science Center for Molecular Design Breeding, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
School of Life Sciences, Institute of Life Science and Green Development, Hebei University, Baoding, China.
Nat Plants. 2025 Mar;11(3):505-517. doi: 10.1038/s41477-025-01933-x. Epub 2025 Mar 5.
Cold acclimation is critical for the survival of plants in temperate regions under low temperatures, and C-REPEAT BINDING FACTORs (CBFs) are well established as key transcriptional factors that regulate this adaptive process by controlling the expression of cold-responsive genes. Here we demonstrate that CBFs are involved in modulating alternative splicing during cold acclimation through their interaction with subunits of the spliceosome complex. Under cold stress, CBF proteins accumulate and directly interact with SKI-INTERACTING PROTEIN (SKIP), a key component of the spliceosome, which positively regulates acquired freezing tolerance. This interaction facilitates the formation of SKIP nuclear condensates, which enhances the association between SKIP and specific cold-responsive transcripts, thereby increasing their splicing efficiency. Our findings uncover a regulatory role of CBFs in alternative splicing and highlight their pivotal involvement in the full development of cold acclimation, bridging transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms.
低温驯化对于温带地区植物在低温下的存活至关重要，而C-重复结合因子（CBFs）作为关键转录因子已被充分证实，它们通过控制冷响应基因的表达来调节这一适应性过程。在此，我们证明CBFs在低温驯化过程中通过与剪接体复合物的亚基相互作用参与调控可变剪接。在冷胁迫下，CBF蛋白积累并直接与剪接体的关键组分SKI相互作用蛋白（SKIP）相互作用，SKIP对获得性冻耐受性起正向调节作用。这种相互作用促进了SKIP核凝聚物的形成，增强了SKIP与特定冷响应转录本之间的关联，从而提高了它们的剪接效率。我们的研究结果揭示了CBFs在可变剪接中的调控作用，并突出了它们在低温驯化全面发展中的关键参与，架起了转录调控和转录后调控机制之间的桥梁。
