Role for the splicing factor TCERG1 in Cajal body integrity and snRNP assembly

Abstract

Cajal bodies are nuclear organelles involved in the nuclear phase ofsmall nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) biogenesis. In this study, weidentified the splicing factor TCERG1 as a coilin-associated factorthat is essential for Cajal body integrity. Knockdown of TCERG1disrupts the localization of the components of Cajal bodies, includingcoilin and NOLC1, with coilin being dispersed in the nucleoplasm intonumerous small foci, without affecting speckles, gems or the histonelocus body. Furthermore, the depletion of TCERG1 affects therecruitment of Sm proteins to uridine-rich small nuclear RNAs(snRNAs) to form the mature core snRNP. Taken together, theresults of this study suggest that TCERG1 plays an important role inCajal body formation and snRNP biogenesis.