An Exonic Splicing Silencer Is Involved in the Regulated Splicing of Glucose 6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Mrna Wioletta Szeszel-Fedorowicz
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Faculty Scholarship 2006 An Exonic Splicing Silencer Is Involved In The Regulated Splicing Of Glucose 6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Mrna Wioletta Szeszel-Fedorowicz Indrani Talukdar Brian N. Griffith Callee M. Walsh Lisa M. Salati Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications Digital Commons Citation Szeszel-Fedorowicz, Wioletta; Talukdar, Indrani; Griffith,r B ian N.; Walsh, Callee M.; and Salati, Lisa M., "An Exonic Splicing Silencer Is Involved In The Regulated Splicing Of Glucose 6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Mrna" (2006). Faculty Scholarship. 464. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/464 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Research Repository @ WVU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY VOL. 281, NO. 45, pp. 34146–34158, November 10, 2006 © 2006 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. An Exonic Splicing Silencer Is Involved in the Regulated Splicing of Glucose 6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase mRNA* Received for publication, April 20, 2006, and in revised form, September 14, 2006 Published, JBC Papers in Press, September 15, 2006, DOI 10.1074/jbc.M603825200 Wioletta Szeszel-Fedorowicz, Indrani Talukdar, Brian N. Griffith, Callee M. Walsh, and Lisa M. Salati1 From the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506 The inhibition of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) in converting excess dietary energy into a storage form. Con- expression by arachidonic acid occurs by changes in the rate sistent with this role in energy homeostasis, the capacity of this of pre-mRNA splicing. Here, we have identified a cis-acting pathway is regulated by dietary changes, such as fasting, feed- RNA element required for regulated splicing of G6PD mRNA. ing, and the amount and type of carbohydrate and polyunsatu- Using transfection of G6PD RNA reporter constructs into rat rated fat in the diet (1). For many of the lipogenic enzymes, hepatocytes, the cis-acting RNA element involved in this regu- regulation of enzyme amount occurs primarily by changes in lation was localized to nucleotides 43–72 of exon 12 in the G6PD the transcription rate of the gene, but posttranscriptional reg- mRNA. In in vitro splicing assays, RNA substrates containing ulation via mRNA stability has also been implicated (1). G6PD exon 12 were not spliced. In contrast, RNA substrates contain- differs from the other family members in that dietary regulation ing other regions (exons 8 and 9 or exons 10 and 11) of the G6PD occurs exclusively at a posttranscriptional step (2–4). mRNA were efficiently spliced. Furthermore, exon 12 can G6PD expression is inhibited by polyunsaturated fatty inhibit splicing when substituted for other exons in RNA sub- acids, such as arachidonic acid; this occurs at a unique post- strates that are readily spliced. This activity of the exon 12 reg- transcriptional step involving a decrease in the rate of splic- ulatory element suggests that it is an exonic splicing silencer. ing of the nascent G6PD transcript. Several lines of evidence Consistent with its activity as a splicing silencer, spliceosome indicate that changes in mature mRNA accumulation are assembly was inhibited on RNA substrates containing exon 12 caused by changes in the efficiency of splicing of the G6PD compared with RNAs representing other regions of the G6PD transcript. First, changes in the cytoplasmic accumulation of transcript. Elimination of nucleotides 43–72 of exon 12 did not G6PD mRNA are preceded by changes in the accumulation restore splicing of exon 12-containing RNA; thus, the 30-nucle- of mRNA in the nucleus in the absence of changes in tran- otide element may not be exclusively a silencer. The binding of scriptional activity of the gene (3–5). Second, stimulatory heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins K, L, and A2/B1 treatments, such as refeeding, enhance the rate of accumu- from both HeLa and hepatocyte nuclear extracts to the element lation of partially and fully spliced G6PD mRNA with little or further supports its activity as a silencer. In addition, SR pro- no change in abundance of the primary transcript (2). Third, teins bind to the element, consistent with the presence of inhibition of G6PD expression by polyunsaturated fat results enhancer activity within this sequence. Thus, an exonic splicing in an accumulation of partially spliced mRNA in the nucleus silencer is involved in the inhibition of splicing of a constitu- despite a decrease in the nuclear content of mature mRNA tively spliced exon in the G6PD mRNA. (6). Finally, using transient transfection of RNA reporter constructs containing progressive deletion of the 13 exons of the G6PD precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) into rat hepato- Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)2 is a member cytes, we have demonstrated that exon 12 and its surround- of a family of enzymes that catalyze the de novo synthesis of ing introns are necessary for the arachidonic acid inhibition fatty acids. In liver, the lipogenic pathway plays an essential role of mRNA accumulation (6). Thus, we conclude that G6PD expression is regulated by changes in the rate of pre-mRNA * This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant DK46897 (to splicing. L. M. S.), American Heart Association Grant 0315129B (to B. N. G.), the This mechanism of regulation of G6PD by inhibition of its COBRE for Signal Transduction and Cancer (National Institutes of Health splicing may be shared across other metabolic genes, even those Grant P20RR016440), and the West Virginia University Proteomics Facility. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the pay- regulated by transcriptional mechanisms. In this regard, nutri- ment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked tional status regulates expression of the tricarboxylate (citrate) “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indi- carrier and spot 14, a putative lipogenic protein by a nuclear cate this fact. 1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Biochemistry and posttranscriptional mechanism (2, 7–9). Regulation of accu- Molecular Pharmacology, West Virginia University Health Sciences Center, mulation of spliced intermediates has been observed for these P.O. Box 9142, Morgantown, WV 26506. Tel.: 304-293-7759; E-mail: Lsalati@ genes, but the molecular details are not known. Regulating gene hsc.wvu.edu. expression by changes in the rate of pre-mRNA splicing in addi- 2 The abbreviations used are: G6PD, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogen- ase; pre-mRNA, precursor-mRNA; ESE, exonic splicing enhancer; SR, ser- tion to transcriptional regulation would result in a more rapid ine/arginine-rich; snRNP, small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle; response to nutritional or hormonal changes. hnRNP, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein; ESS, exonic splicing Pre-mRNA splicing results in the removal of introns from silencer; CMV, cytomegalovirus; UTR, untranslated region; U2AF, U2 primary transcripts and the joining of the exons containing auxiliary factor; Xcorr, cross-correlation; nt, nucleotide; LC, liquid chro- matography; MS, mass spectrometry. the protein coding information. The G6PD gene is over 18 34146 JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY VOLUME 281•NUMBER 45•NOVEMBER 10, 2006 An Exonic Splicing Silencer in a Constitutively Spliced Exon kb, and all of its exons are constitutively spliced. Exons can attenuating the formation of the first ATP-requiring complex be constitutively or alternatively spliced. Constitutively in this process and binds hnRNPs, associated with inhibition of spliced exons are those always present in the mRNA and splicing. This is the first report of an ESS in a constitutively account for the majority of exons. The alternative splicing of spliced exon being involved in the regulation of gene mRNA transcripts, which occurs for at least 60% of all genes, expression. results in the production of different proteins and can occur in a tissue- or treatment-specific manner (10). Both consti- EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES tutive and alternative splicing requires distinguishing exons Animal Care and Cell Culture—Male Sprague-Dawley rats from the surrounding intronic RNA. Exon definition, as the (175–250 g) were fed a chow diet and then starved 16 h prior to process of exon recognition is called, utilizes intronic hepatocyte isolation. Hepatocytes were isolated by a modifica- sequences, which include the 5Ј and 3Ј splice sites, polypy- tion of the Seglen technique (25) as described previously (4). rimidine tract, and branch point, as well as sequence ele- Hepatocytes (3.1 ϫ 106) were placed in 60-mm dishes coated ments in the exon called exonic splicing enhancers (ESEs) with rat tail collagen and incubated in Hi/Wo/BA medium (11). ESEs are not highly conserved with respect to sequence (Waymouth MB752/l plus 20 mM Hepes, pH 7.4, 0.5 mM serine, and thus must be functionally characterized in the 0.5 mM alanine, 0.2% bovine serum albumin) plus 5% newborn pre-mRNA (12, 13). The activity of ESEs involves their bind- calf serum (37 °C, 5% CO2). Cell viability in all experiments was ing by members of a family of splicing regulatory proteins, 90% or greater as estimated by trypan blue (0.04%) exclusion. serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins (14). SR proteins partici- After 3–4 h, the medium was replaced with serum-free pate in splicing by enhancing the recruitment of the key medium, and the constructs presented in Figs. 1 and 2 were spliceosome components, U1 small nuclear ribonucleopro- transfected. Each construct (2.5 g/plate) was transfected using tein particle (snRNP) and U2 snRNP (11). In the absence of Lipofectin according to the manufacturer’s protocol (Invitro- an ESE, binding of U1 and U2 snRNPs to the 5Ј splice site and gen). The ratio of DNA to liposome reagent was 1:6.7.