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
Affiliations
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
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
Nourelislam Awad
Helmy Institute of Biomedical Science, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Ahmed Zewail Road, Giza 12578, Egypt
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
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
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 rs33 showed increased sensitivity to salt and low-temperature stresses. Genome-wide analyses of gene expression and splicing in wild-type and rs33 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.
