Requirements for intron-mediated enhancement of gene expression in Arabidopsis

To explore possible mechanisms of intron-mediated enhancement of gene expression, the features of PAT1 intron 1 required to elevate mRNA accumulation were systematically tested in transgenic Arabidopsis. This intron is remarkably resilient, retaining some ability to increase mRNA accumulation when splicing was prevented by mutation of 5' and 3' splice sites, branchpoint sequences, or when intron U-richness was reduced. Enhancement was abolished by simultaneously eliminating branchpoints and the 5' splice site, structures involved in the first two steps of spliceosome assembly. Although this suggests that the splicing machinery is required, intron splicing is clearly not enough to enhance mRNA accumulation. Five other introns were all efficiently spliced but varied widely in their ability to increase mRNA levels. Furthermore, PAT1 intron 1 was spliced but lost the ability to elevate mRNA accumulation when moved to the 3' UTR. These findings demonstrate that splicing per se is neither necessary nor sufficient for an intron to enhance mRNA accumulation, and suggest a mechanism that requires intron recognition by the splicing machinery but also involves nonconserved intron sequences.