Role of the Exon Junction Complex in Danio rerio

The exon junction complex (EJC) is composed of three core proteins Rbm8a, Magoh and Eif4a3 and is thought to play a role in several post-transcriptional processes. In this study we focus on understanding the role of EJC in zebrafish development. We identified transcriptome-wide binding sites of EJC in zebrafish via RNA:protein immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (RIP-Seq). We find that, as in human cells, zebrafish EJC is deposited about 24 nts upstream of exon-exon junctions. We also identify transcripts regulated by Rbm8a and Magoh in zebrafish embryos using whole embryo RNA-seq from rbm8a mutant, magoh mutant and wild-type sibling embryos. This study shows that nonsense mediated mRNA decay is dysregulated in zebrafish EJC mutants. Analysis of exon junction complex (EJC) footprints in Danio rerio and analysis of gene expression in Danio rerio EJC mutants