GEMIN2 attenuates the effects of temperature on alternative splicing and circadian rhythms in Arabidopsis thaliana

RUBEN GUSTAVO SCHLAEN; ESTEFANIA MANCINI; SABRINA SANCHEZ; SOLEDAD PEREZ SANTANGELO; MATIAS L. RUGNONE; CRAIG SIMPSON; JOHN BROWN; XU ZHANG; ARIEL CHERNOMORETZ; MARCELO YANOVSKY

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

NATL ACAD SCIENCES

Lugar: Washington DC, USA; Año: 2015

0027-8424

The mechanisms by which poikilothermic organisms ensure thatbiological processes are robust to temperature changes are largelyunknown. Temperature compensation, the ability of circadianrhythms to maintain a relatively constant period over the broadrange of temperatures resulting from seasonal fluctuations in envi-ronmental conditions, is a defining property of circadian networks.Temperature affects the alternative splicing (AS) of several clockgenes in fungi, plants, and flies, but the splicing factors that modu-late these effects to ensure clock accuracy throughout the year re-main to be identified. Here we show that GEMIN2, a spliceosomalsmall nuclear ribonucleoprotein assembly factor conserved fromyeast to humans, modulates low temperature effects on a large sub-set of pre-mRNA splicing events. In particular, GEMIN2 controls theAS of several clock genes and attenuates the effects of temperatureon the circadian period in Arabidopsis thaliana. We conclude thatGEMIN2 is a key component of a posttranscriptional regulatorymechanism that ensures the appropriate acclimation of plants todaily and seasonal changes in temperature conditions.