Expression Patterns of the U2 Auxiliary Factor- Small Subunit in Plants

The U2 snRNP auxiliary factor-small subunit is involved in spliceosome assembly, aiding in recognition of splice sites. Although characterized in vertebrate species, no research has been done on this gene in plants. Two homologous genes were found in both Arabidopsis thaliana and Zea mays. The homologs in Arabidopsis both contain a constitutive intron in the 5 ’ UTR, and both are expressed simultaneously in root and shoot tissues. One maize homolog, ZUSa, contains an intron in the 5 ’ UTR, and all three of these introns are constitutively spliced. ZUSa also contains an exon that is alternatively spliced in the 5'UTR. ZUSb, the remaining homolog, appears to have alternative splicing occurring in various tissues by RT-PCR analysis. Both maize homologs are expressed in root, shoot, endosperm, and kernel tissues. Expression Patterns of the U2 Auxiliary Factor- Small Subunit in Plants The central dogma in biology follows the path from DNA to RNA to proteins. In eukaryotes, the process of taking the RNA transcript and translating into proteins is more difficult due to large noncoding segments of DNA (introns). The first strand of RN