Abstract
The genes associated with various stress responses seem to be particularly prone to alternative splicing in higher plants. Arabidopsis contained 19 types of SR protein homologues as a splicing factor. It seems likely that some of SR proteins may be associated with the regulation of alternative splicing mechanisms specific for plants. Here we analyzed the physiological function of the respective SR proteins in Arabidopsis.
Various types of stress treatments, such as high light (1600 μE/m2/s), MV (3 μM) and salinity (250 mM), increased the transcript levels of some SR proteins (SR41.2, SR34/SR1, RS31.1, RSZ33, SC33.1, SC35.1). The expression level of SR41.2 was rapidly induced by high-light treatment suggesting that SR41.2 functions as a regulation factor of stress-responsible alternative splicing. SR41.2 was specifically bound to GTTT-repeated sequence. We are trying to generate transformants expressing or suppressing the respective SR protein in order to identify the genes controlled by the protein.
