Regulation of alternative splicing by a transcriptional enhancer through RNA pol II elongation

Promoters and enhancers are cis-acting elements that control gene transcription via complex networks of protein-DNA and protein-protein interactions. Whereas promoters deal with putting in place the RNA polymerase, both enhancers and promoters can control transcriptional initiation and elongation. We have previously shown that promoter structure modulates alternative splicing, strengthening the concept of a physical and functional coupling between transcription and splicing. Here we report that the promoter effect is due to the control of RNA pol II elongation. We found that the simian virus 40 (SV40) transcriptional enhancer, inserted in fibronectin (FN) minigene constructs transfected into mammalian cells, controls alternative splicing by inhibiting inclusion of the FN extra domain I (EDI) exon into mature mRNA. Deletion analysis of enhancer subdomains and competitions in vivo with excess of specific enhancer DNA subfragments demonstrate that the "minimal" enhancer, consisting of two 72-bp repeats, is responsible for the splicing effect. The 72-bp repeat region has been reported to promote RNA pol II elongation. When transcription is driven by the alpha-globin promoter linked to the SV40 enhancer, basal EDI inclusion and activation by the SR (Ser-Arg-rich) protein SF2/ASF are much lower than with other promoters. Deletion of only one of the two 72-bp repeats not only provokes higher EDI inclusion levels but allows responsiveness to SF2/ASF. These effects are the consequence of a decrease in RNA pol II elongation evidenced both by an increase in the proportions of shorter proximal over full length transcripts and by higher pol II densities upstream of the alternative exon detected by chromatin immunoprecipitation.