The Rice Serine/Arginine Splicing Factor RS33 Regulates Pre-mRNA Splicing during Abiotic Stress Responses.
Haroon Butt, Jeremie Bazin, Kasavajhala V S K Prasad, Nourelislam Awad, Martin Crespi, Anireddy S N Reddy, Magdy M Mahfouz
Author Information
Haroon Butt: Laboratory for Genome Engineering and Synthetic Biology, Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. ORCID
Jeremie Bazin: CNRS, INRA, Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay IPS2, University Paris-Saclay and University of Paris Bâtiment 630, 91192 Gif sur Yvette, France.
Kasavajhala V S K Prasad: Department of Biology, Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA. ORCID
Nourelislam Awad: Helmy Institute of Biomedical Science, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Ahmed Zewail Road, Giza 12578, Egypt. ORCID
Martin Crespi: CNRS, INRA, Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay IPS2, University Paris-Saclay and University of Paris Bâtiment 630, 91192 Gif sur Yvette, France. ORCID
Anireddy S N Reddy: Department of Biology, Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Magdy M Mahfouz: Laboratory for Genome Engineering and Synthetic Biology, Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. ORCID
Abiotic stresses profoundly affect plant growth and development and limit crop productivity. Pre-mRNA splicing is a major form of gene regulation that helps plants cope with various stresses. Serine/arginine (SR)-rich splicing factors play a key role in pre-mRNA splicing to regulate different biological processes under stress conditions. Alternative splicing (AS) of SR transcripts and other transcripts of stress-responsive genes generates multiple splice isoforms that contribute to protein diversity, modulate gene expression, and affect plant stress tolerance. Here, we investigated the function of the plant-specific SR protein RS33 in regulating pre-mRNA splicing and abiotic stress responses in rice. The loss-of-function mutant showed increased sensitivity to salt and low-temperature stresses. Genome-wide analyses of gene expression and splicing in wild-type and seedlings subjected to these stresses identified multiple splice isoforms of stress-responsive genes whose AS are regulated by RS33. The number of RS33-regulated genes was much higher under low-temperature stress than under salt stress. Our results suggest that the plant-specific splicing factor RS33 plays a crucial role during plant responses to abiotic stresses.
