Inefficient recruitment of DDX39B impedes pre-spliceosome assembly on FOXP3 introns

Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) is the master fate-determining transcription factor in regulatory T (T ) cells and is essential for their development, function, and homeostasis. Mutations in cause immunodysregulation polyendocrinopathy enteropathy X-linked (IPEX) syndrome, and aberrant expression of has been implicated in other diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancer. We previously demonstrated that pre-mRNA splicing of RNAs is highly sensitive to levels of DExD-box polypeptide 39B (DDX39B), and here we investigate the mechanism of this sensitivity. introns have cytidine (C)-rich/uridine (U)-poor polypyrimidine (py) tracts that are responsible for their inefficient splicing and confer sensitivity to DDX39B. We show that there is a deficiency in the assembly of commitment complexes (CCs) on introns, which is consistent with the lower affinity of U2AF2 for C-rich/U-poor py tracts. Our data indicate an even stronger effect on the conversion of CCs to pre-spliceosomes. We propose that this is due to an altered conformation that U2AF2 adopts when it binds to C-rich/U-poor py tracts and that this conformation has a lower affinity for DDX39B. As a consequence, CCs assembled on introns are defective in recruiting DDX39B, and this leads to the inefficient assembly of pre-spliceosome complexes.