To Splice or to Transcribe: SKIP-Mediated Environmental Fitness and Development in Plants

Ying Cao,Ligeng Ma

doi:10.3389/fpls.2019.01222

Abstract

Gene expression in eukaryotes is controlled at multiple levels, including transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. The transcriptional regulation of gene expression is complex and includes the regulation of the initiation and elongation phases of transcription. Meanwhile, the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression includes precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) splicing, 5′ capping, and 3′ polyadenylation. Among these events, pre-mRNA splicing, conducted by the spliceosome, plays a key role in the regulation of gene expression, and the efficiency and precision of pre-mRNA splicing are critical for gene function. Ski-interacting protein (SKIP) is an evolutionarily conserved protein from yeast to humans. In plants, SKIP is a bifunctional regulator that works as a splicing factor as part of the spliceosome and as a transcriptional regulator via interactions with the transcriptional regulatory complex. Here, we review how the functions of SKIP as a splicing factor and a transcriptional regulator affect environmental fitness and development in plants.

Highlights

AND GENE EXPRESSION REGULATIONDue to their sessile nature, plants must respond to both the external environment and internal signals to regulate their environmental fitness and development
Ski-interacting protein (SKIP) has a dual function in plants: it acts as a splicing factor to control efficient and precise pre-messenger RNAs (mRNAs) splicing on a genome-wide scale by interacting with other spliceosome components (e.g., SERINE/ ARGININE RICH 45 (SR45)) and integrating into the spliceosome, and it is required for 5′ and 3′ splice site recognition or cleavage (Wang et al, 2012; Feng et al, 2015)
The RNA-binding protein SR45, first identified as an interacting partner of U1 SMALL NUCLEAR RIBONUCLEOPROTEIN70K (U1-70K) and an essential splicing factor in plants (Golovkin and Reddy, 1999; Ali et al, 2007; Carvalho et al, 2016), was reported to be recruited to FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) chromatin by VIVIPAROUS 1/ABI3-LIKE factor 1 (VAL1), a transcriptional repressor that further recruits the transcriptional repression complex plant homeodomain–polycomb repressive complex 2 (PHD-PRC2), resulting in decreased histone acetylation of FLC chromatin and FLC transcriptional silencing during vernalization (Qüesta et al, 2016)

Summary

Introduction

AND GENE EXPRESSION REGULATIONDue to their sessile nature, plants must respond to both the external environment and internal signals to regulate their environmental fitness and development. We review how the functions of SKIP as a splicing factor and a transcriptional regulator affect environmental fitness and development in plants.

Results

Conclusion