Biomolecules 2015, 5, 2935-2977; doi:10.3390/biom5042935 OPEN ACCESS biomolecules ISSN 2218-273X www.mdpi.com/journal/biomolecules/ Review The RNA Splicing Response to DNA Damage Lulzim Shkreta and Benoit Chabot * Département de Microbiologie et d’Infectiologie, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1E 4K8, Canada; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-819-821-8000 (ext. 75321); Fax: +1-819-820-6831. Academic Editors: Wolf-Dietrich Heyer, Thomas Helleday and Fumio Hanaoka Received: 12 August 2015 / Accepted: 16 October 2015 / Published: 29 October 2015 Abstract: The number of factors known to participate in the DNA damage response (DDR) has expanded considerably in recent years to include splicing and alternative splicing factors. While the binding of splicing proteins and ribonucleoprotein complexes to nascent transcripts prevents genomic instability by deterring the formation of RNA/DNA duplexes, splicing factors are also recruited to, or removed from, sites of DNA damage. The first steps of the DDR promote the post-translational modification of splicing factors to affect their localization and activity, while more downstream DDR events alter their expression. Although descriptions of molecular mechanisms remain limited, an emerging trend is that DNA damage disrupts the coupling of constitutive and alternative splicing with the transcription of genes involved in DNA repair, cell-cycle control and apoptosis. A better understanding of how changes in splice site selection are integrated into the DDR may provide new avenues to combat cancer and delay aging.