title: Single-molecule fluorescence-based studies on the dynamics, assembly and catalytic mechanism of the spliceosome.
abstract: Pre-mRNA (precursor mRNA) splicing is a key step in cellular gene expression where introns are excised and exons are ligated together to produce mature mRNA. This process is catalysed by the spliceosome, which consists of five snRNPs (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles) and numerous protein factors. Assembly of these snRNPs and associated proteins is a highly dynamic process, making it challenging to study the conformational rearrangements and spliceosome assembly kinetics in bulk studies. In the present review, we discuss recent studies utilizing techniques based on single-molecule detection that have helped overcome this challenge. These studies focus on the assembly dynamics and splicing kinetics in real-time, which help understanding of spliceosomal assembly and catalysis.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Medicine, Section of Virology and Single Molecule Imaging Group, MRC Clinical Centre, Imperial College London, London W12 0NN, U.K.
authors.forename: Chandani
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Warnasooriya
authors.affiliation: *Department of Medicine, Section of Virology and Single Molecule Imaging Group, MRC Clinical Centre, Imperial College London, London W12 0NN, U.K.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rueda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D031541:Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer; D006801:Humans; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000378:metabolism; D017411:Ribonucleoproteins, Small Nuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D017381:Spliceosomes / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D012322:RNA Precursors; D017411:Ribonucleoproteins, Small Nuclear