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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In eukaryotes, most gene transcripts or pre-mRNAs are interrupted by intervening sequences termed introns, which are precisely removed by a process called splicing. This process is essential since spliced mRNAs serve as templates for proteins. Regulation in the splicing process is certainly crucial for a wide variety of biological and physiological phenomena. The process is therefore highly discriminatory and faithful, and mis-regulation in this process causes disorders in cell functions, often with severe clinical consequences.

This Special Issue will cover, but is not limited to, the following topics:

The mechanism and regulation of constitutive and alternative splicing;
The mechanism and regulation of splicing-linked post-splicing processes;
Pre-mRNA–protein interactions involved in splicing and splicing-linked processes;
hnRNP/mRNP assembly and functions in splicing and splicing-linked processes;
Evolutional studies of pre-mRNAs and splicing;
Pre-mRNA processing in development and diseases including cancers.

Prof. Dr. Akila Mayeda
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Related Special Issues

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

16 pages, 2749 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Interplays between cis- and trans-Acting Factors for Alternative Splicing in Response to Environmental Changes during Biological Invasions of Ascidians

by Xuena Huang, Hanxi Li and Aibin Zhan

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(19), 14921; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241914921 - 05 Oct 2023

Viewed by 973

Abstract

Alternative splicing (AS), a pivotal biological process contributing to phenotypic plasticity, creates a bridge linking genotypes with phenotypes. Despite its importance, the AS mechanisms underlying environmental response and adaptation have not been well studied, and more importantly, the cis- and trans-acting factors influencing AS variation remain unclear. Using the model invasive congeneric ascidians, Ciona robusta, and Ciona savignyi, we compared their AS responses to environmental changes and explored the potential determinants. Our findings unveiled swift and dynamic AS changes in response to environmental challenges, and differentially alternative spliced genes (DASGs) were functionally enriched in transmembrane transport processes. Interestingly, both the prevalence and level of AS in C. robusta were lower than those observed in C. savignyi. Furthermore, these two indices were higher under temperature stresses compared to salinity stresses in C. savignyi. All the observed patterns underscore the species-specific and environmental context-dependent AS responses to environmental challenges. The dissimilarities in genomic structure and exon/intron size distributions between these two species likely contributed to the observed AS variation. Moreover, we identified a total of 11 and 9 serine/arginine-rich splicing factors (SRSFs) with conserved domains and gene structures in the genomes of C. robusta and C. savignyi, respectively. Intriguingly, our analysis revealed that all detected SRSFs did not exhibit prevalent AS regulations. Instead, we observed AS control over a set of genes related to splicing factors and spliceosome components. Altogether, our results elucidate species-specific and environmental challenge-dependent AS response patterns in closely related invasive ascidians. The identified splicing factors and spliceosome components under AS control offer promising candidates for further investigations into AS-mediated rapid responses to environmental challenges complementary to SRSFs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism and Regulation of Pre-mRNA Splicing 3.0)

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