Son Maintains Accurate Splicing of Pre-mRNAs Encoding Chromatin Modifiers

Exon and expression analysis of HeLa cells after knockdown of SON Serine-arginine-rich (SR) proteins play a key role in alternative pre-mRNA splicing in eukaryotes. Our laboratory recently showed that a large SR protein called Son has unique repeat motifs that are essential for maintaining the subnuclear organization of pre-mRNA processing factors in nuclear speckles. Motif analysis of Son highlights putative RNA interaction domains that suggest a direct role for Son in pre-mRNA splicing. A genome-wide screen was performed to identify putative human transcription and splicing targets of Son. HeLa cells were transfected with siRNA against SON or a control siRNA (siLuciferase) for 48 hours. Five biological replicates were used for each condition.