The fission yeast pre-mRNA-processing factor 18 (prp18+) has intron-specific splicing functions with links to G1-S cell cycle progression

Abstract

The fission yeast genome, which contains numerous short introns, is an apt model for studies on fungal splicing mechanisms and splicing by intron definition. Here we perform a domain analysis of the evolutionarily conserved Schizosaccharomyces pombe pre-mRNA-processing factor, SpPrp18. Our mutational and biophysical analyses of the C-terminal α-helical bundle reveal critical roles for the conserved region as well as helix five. We generate a novel conditional missense mutant, spprp18-5. To assess the role of SpPrp18, we performed global splicing analyses on cells depleted of prp18+ and the conditional spprp18-5 mutant, which show widespread but intron-specific defects. In the absence of functional SpPrp18, primer extension analyses on a tfIId+ intron 1-containing minitranscript show accumulated pre-mRNA, whereas the lariat intron-exon 2 splicing intermediate was undetectable. These phenotypes also occurred in cells lacking both SpPrp18 and SpDbr1 (lariat debranching enzyme), a genetic background suitable for detection of lariat RNAs. These data indicate a major precatalytic splicing arrest that is corroborated by the genetic interaction between spprp18-5 and spprp2-1, a mutant in the early acting U2AF59 protein. Interestingly, SpPrp18 depletion caused cell cycle arrest before S phase. The compromised splicing of transcripts coding for G1-S regulators, such as Res2, a transcription factor, and Skp1, a regulated proteolysis factor, are shown. The cumulative effects of SpPrp18-dependent intron splicing partly explain the G1 arrest upon the loss of SpPrp18. Our study using conditional depletion of spprp18+ and the spprp18-5 mutant uncovers an intron-specific splicing function and early spliceosomal interactions and suggests links with cell cycle progression.