Precursor messenger RNA splicing is an essential step in gene expression that can be highly regulated by alternative splicing in higher organisms. While biochemical approaches have been successful in identifying protein factors involved in the regulation of splice site choice in metazoans, there is always the concern that in vitro approaches using extracts from cell lines do not identify the true developmental and tissue-specific regulators of splice site choice. Directed genetic approaches to studying alternative splicing in metazoan model systems, which could reveal the specific regulators, have been few. C. elegans presents us with an exciting opportunity to study splicing and its regulation. The complete genome sequence and over 100,000 cDNA sequences present a unique opportunity for a computational approach to identify and characterize splicing regulatory sequences. The well-developed genetic system could be used to identify genes that regulate specific splicing. The molecular transformation and cytological tools such as the use of green fluorescent protein provide opportunities to engineer reporter genes through which splicing can be monitored with both visual and molecular means. In this proposal we present a genetic, molecular and bioinformatics approach to analyze splicing regulation in C. elegans.
The specific aims are to: 1- identify and characterize genes involved in the regulation of cryptic splice site choice. These types of genes can have important consequences in human disease display. 2- use a novel genetic screen, involving visualization of alternative splicing through the use of a green fluorescent protein reporter, to identify trans-acting factors and cis regulatory elements involved in the developmental regulation of alternative splicing of the let-2 gene. 3- use a collection of 845 alternatively spliced genes we have identified computationally in C. elegans to computationally identify cis elements in the pre-mRNA potentially involved in splicing regulation. These putative elements will be characterized using an in vivo splicing reporter method that we have developed.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM061646-04
Application #
6603066
Study Section
Cell Development and Function Integrated Review Group (CDF)
Program Officer
Rhoades, Marcus M
Project Start
2000-07-01
Project End
2005-08-31
Budget Start
2003-07-01
Budget End
2005-08-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$232,670
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Santa Cruz
Department
Biochemistry
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
125084723
City
Santa Cruz
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
95064
Barberan-Soler, Sergio; Medina, Pedro; Estella, Jeffrey et al. (2011) Co-regulation of alternative splicing by diverse splicing factors in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nucleic Acids Res 39:666-74
Barberan-Soler, Sergio; Lambert, Nicole J; Zahler, Alan M (2009) Global analysis of alternative splicing uncovers developmental regulation of nonsense-mediated decay in C. elegans. RNA 15:1652-60
Kabat, Jennifer L; Barberan-Soler, Sergio; Zahler, Alan M (2009) HRP-2, the Caenorhabditis elegans homolog of mammalian heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins Q and R, is an alternative splicing factor that binds to UCUAUC splicing regulatory elements. J Biol Chem 284:28490-7
Dassah, Maryann; Patzek, Sophie; Hunt, Valerie M et al. (2009) A genetic screen for suppressors of a mutated 5' splice site identifies factors associated with later steps of spliceosome assembly. Genetics 182:725-34
Barberan-Soler, Sergio; Zahler, Alan M (2008) Alternative splicing and the steady-state ratios of mRNA isoforms generated by it are under strong stabilizing selection in Caenorhabditis elegans. Mol Biol Evol 25:2431-7
Barberan-Soler, Sergio; Zahler, Alan M (2008) Alternative splicing regulation during C. elegans development: splicing factors as regulated targets. PLoS Genet 4:e1000001
Gu, Sam G; Pak, Julia; Barberan-Soler, Sergio et al. (2007) Distinct ribonucleoprotein reservoirs for microRNA and siRNA populations in C. elegans. RNA 13:1492-504
Kabat, Jennifer L; Barberan-Soler, Sergio; McKenna, Paul et al. (2006) Intronic alternative splicing regulators identified by comparative genomics in nematodes. PLoS Comput Biol 2:e86
Zahler, Alan M (2005) Alternative splicing in C. elegans. WormBook :1-13
Zahler, Alan M; Tuttle, John D; Chisholm, Andrew D (2004) Genetic suppression of intronic +1G mutations by compensatory U1 snRNA changes in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 167:1689-96

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