title: Promoter proximal splice sites enhance transcription.
abstract: Reconstruction of a gene with its introns removed results in reduced levels of cytoplasmic mRNA. This is partly explained by introns promoting the export of mRNA through coupling splicing to nuclear export processes. However, we show here that splicing signals can have a direct role in enhancing gene transcription. Removal of promoter proximal splice signals from a mammalian gene or the excision of introns from two different yeast genes results in a marked reduction in levels of nascent transcription, based on both nuclear run-on and direct image analysis. This further establishes that mRNA processing and transcription are tightly coupled mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furger
authors.forename: Justin M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Binnie
authors.forename: Barbara A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Nick J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Proudfoot
mesh_terms: D005800:Genes, Fungal; D005814:Genes, Viral; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D022821:RNA Splice Sites / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D022821:RNA Splice Sites; D012333:RNA, Messenger