Nuclear Speckles as a Mediator of Dynamic Intron Retention in Developing Neuron Cells
Session Number
Project ID: BIO 05
Advisor(s)
Dr. Xinqi Fan,Dr. Jingyi Fei, University of Chicago
Discipline
Biology
Start Date
17-4-2024 8:15 AM
End Date
17-4-2024 8:30 AM
Abstract
Alternative splicing is crucial for the genetic complexity of mammalian systems, allowing for the creation of numerous mRNA sequences and therefore protein isoforms from a single transcript. While introns are typically excluded from the final sequence, they may be dynamically retained to facilitate intron-mediated gene expression via protein production and RNA stability. In mouse embryonic cells, retained intron regulatory schemes switch between brain development stages, indicating the role of retained introns in brain development. We hypothesize that intron-mediated gene expression is mediated by the nuclear speckles, one type of membraneless organelles enriched in splicing factors that play an important role in gene expression. Reads obtained from mouse neuron and progenitor cells via Illumina NGS were mapped to the mouse genome and counted using STAR Featurecounts. Differential analysis of counts via DESeq2 indicates differential transcript localization to speckles in these two types of cells.
Nuclear Speckles as a Mediator of Dynamic Intron Retention in Developing Neuron Cells
Alternative splicing is crucial for the genetic complexity of mammalian systems, allowing for the creation of numerous mRNA sequences and therefore protein isoforms from a single transcript. While introns are typically excluded from the final sequence, they may be dynamically retained to facilitate intron-mediated gene expression via protein production and RNA stability. In mouse embryonic cells, retained intron regulatory schemes switch between brain development stages, indicating the role of retained introns in brain development. We hypothesize that intron-mediated gene expression is mediated by the nuclear speckles, one type of membraneless organelles enriched in splicing factors that play an important role in gene expression. Reads obtained from mouse neuron and progenitor cells via Illumina NGS were mapped to the mouse genome and counted using STAR Featurecounts. Differential analysis of counts via DESeq2 indicates differential transcript localization to speckles in these two types of cells.