PUBLICATION

Zrsr2 Is Essential for the Embryonic Development and Splicing of Minor Introns in RNA and Protein Processing Genes in Zebrafish

Authors
Weinstein, R., Bishop, K., Broadbridge, E., Yu, K., Carrington, B., Elkahloun, A., Zhen, T., Pei, W., Burgess, S.M., Liu, P., Bresciani, E., Sood, R.
ID
ZDB-PUB-220924-21
Date
2022
Source
International Journal of Molecular Sciences   23(18): (Journal)
Registered Authors
Pei, Wuhong, Sood, Raman
Keywords
CRISPR/Cas9, U12 introns, ZRSR2, intron retention, zebrafish
Datasets
GEO:GSE193365
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Arginine/metabolism
  • Embryonic Development/genetics
  • Introns/genetics
  • Mice
  • RNA Splice Sites
  • RNA Splicing*/genetics
  • RNA Splicing Factors/genetics
  • RNA, Small Nuclear/genetics
  • Serine/metabolism
  • Spliceosomes/metabolism
  • Zebrafish*/genetics
  • Zebrafish*/metabolism
PubMed
36142581 Full text @ Int. J. Mol. Sci.
Abstract
ZRSR2 (zinc finger CCCH-type, RNA binding motif and serine/arginine rich 2) is an essential splicing factor involved in 3' splice-site recognition as a component of both the major and minor spliceosomes that mediate the splicing of U2-type (major) and U12-type (minor) introns, respectively. Studies of ZRSR2-depleted cell lines and ZRSR2-mutated patient samples revealed its essential role in the U12-dependent minor spliceosome. However, the role of ZRSR2 during embryonic development is not clear, as its function is compensated for by Zrsr1 in mice. Here, we utilized the zebrafish model to investigate the role of zrsr2 during embryonic development. Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, we generated a zrsr2-knockout zebrafish line, termed zrsr2hg129/hg129 (p.Trp167Argfs*9) and examined embryo development in the homozygous mutant embryos. zrsr2hg129/hg129 embryos displayed multiple developmental defects starting at 4 days post fertilization (dpf) and died after 8 dpf, suggesting that proper Zrsr2 function is required during embryonic development. The global transcriptome analysis of 3 dpf zrsr2hg129/hg129 embryos revealed that the loss of Zrsr2 results in the downregulation of essential metabolic pathways and the aberrant retention of minor introns in about one-third of all minor intron-containing genes in zebrafish. Overall, our study has demonstrated that the role of Zrsr2 as a component of the minor spliceosome is conserved and critical for proper embryonic development in zebrafish.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping