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CCII Seminar “Clarifying the Role of Minor Introns in Cancer Predisposition”

Date, Time & Venue

Speaker

Dr. Daiichi Inoue, M.D.

Group Leader, Department of Hematology-Oncology, Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation, Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation at Kobe, Japan

Abstract

Most eukaryotes harbor two distinct pre-mRNA splicing machineries: the major spliceosome, which removes >99% of introns, and the minor spliceosome, which removes rare, evolutionarily conserved introns. Although hypothesized to serve important regulatory functions, physiologic roles for the minor spliceosome are not well understood. For example, the minor spliceosome component ZRSR2 is subject to recurrent, leukemia-associated mutations, yet functional connections between minor introns, hematopoiesis, and cancers are unclear. Here, we identify that impaired minor intron excision via ZRSR2 loss enhances hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal. CRISPR screens mimicking nonsense- mediated decay of minor-intron containing genes converged on LZTR1, a regulator of Ras-related GTPases. LZTR1 minor intron retention was also discovered in the RASopathy Noonan syndrome, due to intronic mutations disrupting splicing, and diverse solid tumors. These data uncover minor intron recognition as a regulator of hematopoiesis, noncoding mutations within minor introns as cancer drivers, and links between ZRSR2 mutations, LZTR1 regulation, and leukemias.

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