Light Controls Mesophyll-Specific Post-Transcriptional Splicing of Photoregulatory Genes by AtPRMT5
    作者: Yan Yan, Haofei Luo, Yuwei Qin, Tingting Yan, Jinbu Jia, Yifeng Hou, Zhijian Liu, Jixian Zhai, Yanping Long, Xian Deng and Xiaofeng Cao
    刊物名称: PNAS
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    Light plays a central role in plant growth and development, providing an energy source and governing various aspects of plant morphology. Previous study showed that many polyadenylated full-length RNA molecules within the nucleus contain unspliced introns (Post-transcriptionally spliced introns, PTS introns), which may play a role in rapidly responding to changes in environmental signals. However, the mechanism underlying post-transcriptional regulation during initial light exposure of young, etiolated seedlings remains elusive. In this study, we used FLEP-seq2, a Nanopore-based sequencing technique, to analyze nuclear RNAs in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings under different light conditions and discovered numerous light-responsive PTS introns. We also used single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) to profile transcripts in single nucleus and investigate the distribution of light-responsive PTS introns across distinct cell types. We established that light-induced PTS introns are predominant in mesophyll cells during seedling de-etiolation following exposure of etiolated seedlings to light. We further demonstrated the involvement of the splicing-related factor Arabidopsis thaliana PROTEIN ARGININE METHYLTRANSFERASE 5 (AtPRMT5), working in concert with the E3 ubiquitin ligase CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1), a critical repressor of light signaling pathways. We showed that these two proteins orchestrate light-induced PTS events in mesophyll cells and facilitate chloroplast development, photosynthesis, and morphogenesis in response to ever-changing light conditions. These findings provide crucial insights into the intricate mechanisms underlying plant acclimation to light at the cell-type level.