SummarySelected barley miRNAs and their targets are regulated upon heat stress. Splicing of introns carrying miRNAs was induced by heat and correlated with the accumulation of mature miRNA.
Sm-like (Lsm) proteins have been identified in all organisms and are related to RNA metabolism. Here, we report that Arabidopsis nuclear AtLSM8 protein, as well as AtLSM5, which localizes to both the cytoplasm and nucleus, function in pre-mRNA splicing, while AtLSM5 and the exclusively cytoplasmic AtLSM1 contribute to 5′–3′ mRNA decay. In lsm8 and sad1/lsm5 mutants, U6 small nuclear RNA (snRNA) was reduced and unspliced mRNA precursors accumulated, whereas mRNA stability was mainly affected in plants lacking AtLSM1 and AtLSM5. Some of the mRNAs affected in lsm1a lsm1b and sad1/lsm5 plants were also substrates of the cytoplasmic 5′–3′ exonuclease AtXRN4 and of the decapping enzyme AtDCP2. Surprisingly, a subset of substrates was also stabilized in the mutant lacking AtLSM8, which supports the notion that plant mRNAs are actively degraded in the nucleus. Localization of LSM components, purification of LSM-interacting proteins as well as functional analyses strongly suggest that at least two LSM complexes with conserved activities in RNA metabolism, AtLSM1-7 and AtLSM2-8, exist also in plants.
Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) guiding modifications of ribosomal RNAs and other RNAs display diverse modes of gene organization and expression depending on the eukaryotic system: in animals most are intron encoded, in yeast many are monocistronic genes and in plants most are polycistronic (independent or intronic) genes. Here we report an unprecedented organization: plant dicistronic tRNA–snoRNA genes. In Arabidopsis thaliana we identified a gene family encoding 12 novel box C/D snoRNAs (snoR43) located just downstream from tRNAGly genes. We confirmed that they are transcribed, probably from the tRNA gene promoter, producing dicistronic tRNAGly–snoR43 precursors. Using transgenic lines expressing a tagged tRNA–snoR43.1 gene we show that the dicistronic precursor is accurately processed to both snoR43.1 and tRNAGly. In addition, we show that a recombinant RNase Z, the plant tRNA 3′ processing enzyme, efficiently cleaves the dicistronic precursor in vitro releasing the snoR43.1 from the tRNAGly. Finally, we describe a similar case in rice implicating a tRNAMet‐e expressed in fusion with a novel C/D snoRNA, showing that this mode of snoRNA expression is found in distant plant species.
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