Spliceosome specifically associates with RNA polymerase II CTD Ser5-P isoform to promote co-transcriptional splicing. Spliceosome specifically associates with RNA polymerase II CTD Ser5-P isoform to promote co-transcriptional splicing

Co-transcriptional splicing of introns is a defining feature of eukaryotic gene expression. We show that the mammalian spliceosome specifically associates with the S5P CTD isoform of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) as it elongates across spliced exons of protein coding genes, both in human Hela and murine lymphoid cell lines. Immuno-precipitation of MNase digested chromatin with phospho CTD specific antibodies reveals that components of the active spliceosome (both snRNA and proteins) form a specific complex with S5P CTD Pol II. Furthermore a dominant splicing intermediate formed by cleavage at intron 5’ss results in the tethering of upstream exons to this complex at all spliced exons. These are invariably connected to upstream spliced constitutive and less frequently to alternative exons. Finally S5P CTD Pol II accumulates over spliced exons but not adjacent introns. We propose that mammalian splicing employs a rapid, co-transcriptional splicing mechanism based on CTD phosphorylation transitions. Overall design: Examination of co-transcritional splicing kinetics using nascent RNA-sequence, mNET-seq