Analysis of structure and stress- induced Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation of plant-specific splicing factor

Plants are unable to move when faced with environmental changes, but they are able to adapt to the environment through growth and development, which is crucial to their survival. Of particular importance is the processing of pre-mRNAs and their specific splicing factors. Our studies indicate that the homolog of the human CWC22 spliceosome-associated protein in Arabidopsis has additional functions in stress response and that it is a part of a larger, novel, plant-specific complex including two more splicing factors and cyclophilins. We have shown that CWC22 forms dynamic, liquid condensates in vivo. We would like to use SAXS on BM29 to structurally characterise Arabidopsis CWC22 and its interactors in solution. SAXS is the best method to study CWC22 which contains long intrinsically disordered regions essential for its activity. Secondly, we aim to visualize the dynamic process of CWC22 LLPS condensate formation to increase understanding of the role of CWC22 in the plant stress response