title: Developmental analysis of spliceosomal snRNA isoform expression.
abstract: Pre-mRNA splicing is a critical step in eukaryotic gene expression that contributes to proteomic, cellular, and developmental complexity. Small nuclear (sn)RNAs are core spliceosomal components; however, the extent to which differential expression of snRNA isoforms regulates splicing is completely unknown. This is partly due to difficulties in the accurate analysis of the spatial and temporal expression patterns of snRNAs. Here, we use high-throughput RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data to profile expression of four major snRNAs throughout Drosophila development. This analysis shows that individual isoforms of each snRNA have distinct expression patterns in the embryo, larva, and pharate adult stages. Expression of these isoforms is more heterogeneous during embryogenesis; as development progresses, a single isoform from each snRNA subtype gradually dominates expression. Despite the lack of stable snRNA orthologous groups during evolution, this developmental switching of snRNA isoforms also occurs in distantly related vertebrate species, such as Xenopus, mouse, and human. Our results indicate that expression of snRNA isoforms is regulated and lays the foundation for functional studies of individual snRNA isoforms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280 Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280.
authors.forename: Zhipeng
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5124-7546
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280 Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280 Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280 matera@unc.edu.
authors.forename: A Gregory
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6406-0630
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Matera
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D059368:RNA Isoforms / Q000235:genetics*; D012326:RNA Splicing; D012342:RNA, Small Nuclear / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D059368:RNA Isoforms; D012342:RNA, Small Nuclear
keywords: RNA-seq; developmental biology; evolution; snRNA isoforms; snRNP biogenesis