RNA-seq of snrnp70 mutant zebrafish and its rescue by overexpression of cytoplasmic SNRNP70

It has been recently shown that SNRNP70, a major component of the spliceosome, as well as other splicing regulators are found in axons. To investigate the role of SNRNP70 in axons, we generated a zebrafish null mutant and found motor connectivity defects that can be partially rescued upon transgenic overexpression of cytoplasmic-only human SNRNP70 (cyt-hSNRNP70). To understand the molecular function of the cytoplasmic pool of this splicing protein, we performed this RNA-seq experiment with the aim to identify mRNA transcripts whose expression is regulated by the cytoplasmic pool of SNRNP70. To do that, we crossed heterozygous mutant animals that are also positive for the cyt-SNRNP70 transgene. We then split embryos into four groups: (i) sibling, (ii) siblings/cyt-hSNRNP70, (iii) null, (iv) null/cyt-hSNRNP70. Total RNA was extracted from each one of the four groups (three biological replicates per sample) and sequenced.