A dual role of RBM42 in modulating splicing and translation of CDKN1A/p21 during DNA damage response

p53-mediated cell cycle arrest during DNA damage is dependent on the induction of p21 protein, encoded by the CDKN1A gene. p21 inhibits cyclin-dependent kinases required for cell cycle progression to guarantee accurate repair of DNA lesions. Hence, fine-tuning of p21 levels is crucial to preserve genomic stability. Currently, the multilayered regulation of p21 levels during DNA damage is not fully understood. Herein, we identified the human RNA binding motif protein 42 (RBM42) as a novel regulator of p21 levels during DNA damage. Genome-wide transcriptome and interactome analysis revealed that RBM42 alters the expression of p53-regulated genes during DNA damage. Specifically, we demonstrated that RBM42 facilitates CDKN1A splicing by counteracting the splicing inhibitory effect of RBM4 protein. Unexpectedly, we also show that RBM42, underpins translation of various splicing targets, including CDKN1A. Concordantly, transcriptome-wide mapping of RBM42-RNA interactions using eCLIP further substantiates the dual function of RBM42 in regulating splicing and translation of its target genes, including CDKN1A. Collectively, our data show that RBM42 couples splicing and translation machineries to fine-tune gene expression during DNA damage response. Overall design: Enhanced crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (eCLIP) for RBM42 upon DNA damage and mock treatment on HCT116 cells. For each treatment we performed 2 replicates and comapred the eCLIP to size match input control