Abstract
Introduction: The versatility of the human genome is increased by the process of alternative mRNA splicing. Impaired splicing of the cardiac transcriptome is involved in the pathophysiology of heart failure. Especially, mutations in cardiac-specific splicing factors such as RBM20 cause severe forms of cardiomyopathy. Aim: We aimed to identify novel cardiomyopathy-associated splicing factors in the human heart using a score of myocardial tissue specificity including 53 human tissues and disease-associated expression changes in hearts of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients and controls. Methods & Results: We found the splicing factor Slm2 to be significantly upregulated on the mRNA and protein level in the human myocardium of patients diagnosed with DCM (1.88 and 5.3-fold, both P<0.05). Reduction of Slm2 in vivo resulted in DCM in zebrafish and sarcomere irregularity and altered calcium cycling in human cardiomyocytes. Sequencing of RNAs bound to Slm2 isolated from diseased human hearts, revealed the interaction of Slm2 with important mRNA transcripts encoding for sarcomere constituents, such as troponin I, troponin T, tropomyosin and titin. In the failing human myocardium, Slm2 bound to an alternative titin mRNA variant including retained introns. In detail, Slm2 interacted with exons of the titin mRNA encoding for the PEVK region, which mediates flexibility and contractile properties of the heart muscle. Using a splice reporter assay, which contains parts of titin’s PEVK region, we found Slm2 mediating the splicing process of intron retention. Conclusion: Slm2 is a novel splicing factor in the diseased human myocardium, maintaining cardiomyocyte integrity and function by binding and splicing essential sarcomere constituents including titin.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.