title: The splicing factor U2AF65 is functionally conserved in the thermotolerant deep-sea worm Alvinella pompejana.
abstract: Due to their inherent stability, thermophilic bacteria and archaea serve as important resources for biochemical and biophysical analyses of many biological processes. Unfortunately, scientists characterizing eukaryote-specific processes, such as nuclear pre-mRNA splicing, are unable to take advantage of these sources of thermostable proteins. To identify and provide a source of thermostable eukaryotic proteins, we are characterizing splicing factors in the thermotolerant deep-sea vent polychaete, Alvinella pompejana. This worm, also known as the Pompeii worm, is found in the extreme environment of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and is one of the most thermotolerant eukaryotic organisms known. We report on detailed analyses of U2AF65, the large subunit of the U2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein auxiliary factor, an essential splicing factor important for intron definition and alternative splicing. The cloning and characterization of Pompeii U2AF65 show it is highly similar to human U2AF65 in sequence and function and is more thermostable than the human protein when bound to RNA in vitro. Notably, Pompeii U2AF65 can restore splicing in a human extract depleted of human U2AF. We also determine that the general splicing mechanisms and signal sequences are conserved in the Pompeii worm, an annelid which has previously been uncharacterized in terms of splicing factors and signals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.
authors.forename: Kristy L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Henscheid
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: S Craig
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Cary
authors.forename: J Andrew
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Berglund
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011077:Polychaeta / Q000235:genetics*; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012623:Seawater; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D000072668:Splicing Factor U2AF
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins; D000072668:Splicing Factor U2AF; C000607494:U2AF2 protein, human