Biochemistry and regulation of pre-mRNA splicing

During the past year, significant advances have been made in the field of pre-mRNA splicing. It is now clear that members of the serine—arginine-rich protein family are key players in exon definition and function at multiple steps in the spliceosome cycle. Novel findings have been made concerning the role of exon sequences, which function as both constitutive and regulated enhancers of splicing, in trans-splicing and as targets for tissue-specific control of splicing patterns. By combining biochemical approaches in human and yeast extracts with genetic analysis, much has been learned about the RNA—RNA and RNA—protein interactions that are necessary to assemble the various complexes that are found along the pathway to the catalytically active spliceosome.