Splicing regulation in hematopoiesis.

Abstract

Splicing mutations are among the most recurrent genetic perturbations in hematological malignancies, highlighting an important impact of splicing regulation in hematopoietic development. However, compared to our understanding of splicing factor mutations in hematological malignancies, studies of splicing components and alternative splicing in normal hematopoiesis have been less well investigated. Here, we outline the most recent findings on splicing regulation in normal hematopoiesis and discuss the important questions in the field. Recent studies have highlighted the critical role of splicing regulation in hematopoiesis, including characterization of splicing components in normal hematopoiesis, investigation of transcriptional alterations on splicing, and identification of stage-specific alternative splicing events during hematopoietic development. These interesting findings provide insights on hematopoietic regulation at a co-transcriptional level. More high-throughput RNA ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequencing and functional genomic screens are needed to advance our knowledge of critical alternative splicing patterns in shaping hematopoiesis.