Epigenetics of Alternative Splicing in Plants
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Molecular Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2022) | Viewed by 3513
Special Issue Editors
Interests: alternative splcing and abiotic stress tolerance; epigenetics of alternative splicing; heterosis
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Alternative splicing (AS) is widespread in humans and plants. Recent evidence suggests that the process of splicing is largely co-transcriptional, and introns are spliced when pre-mRNA is still attached to DNA by RNA polymerase II (RNAPII). Since DNA is packaged into chromatin, it provides a natural barrier to the advancing RNAPII and influences the splicing process. Exons are usually GC-rich (nucleosome-rich compared to GC-poor introns), and transcription through nucleosome-rich regions with compact chromatin tends to be slower. Nucleosome occupancy is also lower in alternatively spliced exons compared to those that are constitutively spliced. DNA methylation affects exon recognition and is influenced by the GC architecture of exons and flanking introns in humans. Recent evidence suggests that histone modifications also directly affect AS in humans. Such evidence in plants is lacking; however, similar mechanisms may be involved, as the majority of Arabidopsis genes exhibit similar gene body methylation to other organisms. Not surprisingly, novel findings in plants have shown that the process of splicing is indeed predominantly co-transcriptional in plants; however, the mechanistic details remain to be elucidated. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to address how differences in DNA methylation, chromatin architecture, histone modification and RNA modifications influence splicing.
Dr. Naeem Hasan Syed
Dr. Saurabh Chaudhary
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- epigenetics
- DNA-methylation
- chromatin structure
- alternative splicing
- gene regulation
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