The intimate relationships between mRNA metabolism and plant response to abiotic stress

Speaker: Julio Salinas, Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas-CSIC, Madrid
Host: Professor John Mundy, Section for Functional Genomics

Abstract
RNA metabolism has emerged as an important subject to be considered when studying any biological process. The LSMs are evolutionary conserved RNA-binding proteins, typically associated in heteroheptameric ring shaped complexes, with a regulatory function in mRNA metabolism. Our results demonstrate that, as in yeast and animals, Arabidopsis LSMs associate in two distinct complexes with different subcellular localization and function. The LSM1-7 complex localizes in the cytoplasm and constitutes a key element of the decapping apparatus, while the LSM2-8 complex has a nuclear localization and is a component of the spliceosome machinery. Remarkably, our data also show that the LSM complexes play an essential role in plant response to adverse abiotic environments. Indeed, they differentially regulate Arabidopsis tolerance to abiotic stresses by controlling the turnover and splicing of specific transcripts, depending on the stress conditions, which ensures the appropriate patterns of gene expression that are required for plant adaptation to their environment.