Investigating splicing landscape upon Rbm3 deficiency

Rbm3 (RNA binding motif protein 3) is a stress responsive gene, which maintains cellular homeostasis and promotes survival upon various harmful cellular stimuli. Rbm3 protein shows conserved structural and molecular similarities to heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs), which regulate all steps of the mRNA metabolism. Here, we demonstrate that Rbm3, similarly to hnRNPs, is ubiquitously expressed in most mouse cell types and tissues, highlighting additional, non-stress-related physiological roles. Moreover, RNA-seq data from proliferating wild-type L929 and Rbm3 knockout cells reveal that Rbm3 deficiency is linked to transcriptome-wide pre-mRNA splicing defects and compromised transcriptome integrity. Herein, highly expressed, multiple-exon genes connected to basal cellular functions were particularly vulnerable to splicing changes in Rbm3-deficient cells.