Data from: Rapid and dynamic alternative splicing impacts the Arabidopsis cold response transcriptome

Plants have adapted to tolerate and survive constantly changing
environmental conditions by re-programming gene expression. The dynamics
of the contribution of alternative splicing (AS) to stress responses are
unknown. RNA-sequencing of a time-series of Arabidopsis thaliana plants
exposed to cold determines the timing of significant AS changes. This
shows a massive and rapid AS response with coincident waves of
transcriptional and AS activity occurring in the first few hours of
temperature reduction, and further AS throughout the cold. In particular,
hundreds of genes showed changes in expression due to rapidly occurring AS
in response to cold ("early AS" genes); these included numerous
novel cold-responsive transcription factors and splicing
factors/RNA-binding proteins regulated only by AS. The speed and
sensitivity to small temperature changes of AS of some of these genes
suggest that fine-tuning expression via AS pathways contributes to the
thermo-plasticity of expression. Four "early AS" splicing
regulatory genes have been shown previously to be required for freezing
tolerance and acclimation; we provide evidence of a fifth gene,
U2B"-LIKE. Such factors likely drive cascades of AS of downstream
genes which alongside transcription modulate transcriptome reprogramming
that together govern the physiological and survival responses of plants to
low temperature.