Control of the heat stress induced alternative splicing of a subset of genes by hnRNP K
Pre mRNA splicing is widely repressed upon heat shock in eukaryotic cells. However, it has been shown that HSP105 pre mRNA is alternatively spliced in response to heat stress. Using RNAi screening in HeLa cells, we found that RNA binding proteins hnRNP K and PSF/SFPQ are necessary for the exon 12 exclusion of HSP105 during heat stress. Moreover, exon array analyses showed that a group of genes is alternatively spliced during heat stress in an hnRNP K dependent manner, whereas hnRNP K is not necessary for the stress induced alternative splicing of the remaining genes. Among the latter group, we found that SRp38/SRSF10 and SC35/SRSF2 are necessary for the inclusion of exon 13 of TNRC6A during heat stress. Thus, our study clearly showed that several RNA binding proteins are involved in the splicing regulation in response to heat stress in mammalian cells.
Genes to cells devoted to molecular cellular mechanisms