Light Regulates Plant Alternative Splicing through the Control of Transcriptional Elongation

TY - JOUR

T1 - Light Regulates Plant Alternative Splicing through the Control of Transcriptional Elongation

AU - Godoy Herz, Micaela A.

AU - Kubaczka, M. Guillermina

AU - Brzyżek, Grzegorz

AU - Servi, Lucas

AU - Krzyszton, Michal

AU - Simpson, Craig

AU - Brown, John

AU - Swiezewski, Szymon

AU - Petrillo, Ezequiel

AU - Kornblihtt, Alberto R.

N1 - We thank Valeria Buggiano, Ignacio Schor, Luciana Giono, and other members of the Kornblihtt and Srebrow labs and G. Corti Bielsa for their invaluable help. This work was supported by grants from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica of Argentina (PICT-2014 2582 and PICT-2015-0341), the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBACYT 20020130100152BA), and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. A.R.K. and E.P. are career investigators of and M.A.G.H. and M.G.K. received fellowships from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas of Argentina (CONICET). G.B., M.G.K., and S.S. were supported by a grant from the Polish National Science Centre (UMO-2016/23/B/NZ1/02989).

PY - 2019/3/7

Y1 - 2019/3/7

N2 - Light makes carbon fixation possible, allowing plant and animal life on Earth. We have previously shown that light regulates alternative splicing in plants. Light initiates a chloroplast retrograde signaling that regulates nuclear alternative splicing of a subset of Arabidopsis thaliana transcripts. Here, we show that light promotes RNA polymerase II (Pol II) elongation in the affected genes, whereas in darkness, elongation is lower. These changes in transcription are consistent with elongation causing the observed changes in alternative splicing, as revealed by different drug treatments and genetic evidence. The light control of splicing and elongation is abolished in an Arabidopsis mutant defective in the transcription factor IIS (TFIIS). We report that the chloroplast control of nuclear alternative splicing in plants responds to the kinetic coupling mechanism found in mammalian cells, providing unique evidence that coupling is important for a whole organism to respond to environmental cues.

AB - Light makes carbon fixation possible, allowing plant and animal life on Earth. We have previously shown that light regulates alternative splicing in plants. Light initiates a chloroplast retrograde signaling that regulates nuclear alternative splicing of a subset of Arabidopsis thaliana transcripts. Here, we show that light promotes RNA polymerase II (Pol II) elongation in the affected genes, whereas in darkness, elongation is lower. These changes in transcription are consistent with elongation causing the observed changes in alternative splicing, as revealed by different drug treatments and genetic evidence. The light control of splicing and elongation is abolished in an Arabidopsis mutant defective in the transcription factor IIS (TFIIS). We report that the chloroplast control of nuclear alternative splicing in plants responds to the kinetic coupling mechanism found in mammalian cells, providing unique evidence that coupling is important for a whole organism to respond to environmental cues.

KW - alternative splicing

KW - light control in plants

KW - transcription elongation

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85062215196

U2 - 10.1016/j.molcel.2018.12.005

DO - 10.1016/j.molcel.2018.12.005

M3 - Article

C2 - 30661982

SN - 1097-2765

VL - 73

SP - 1066-1074.e3

JO - Molecular Cell

JF - Molecular Cell

IS - 5

ER -