Requirement of ATP in the second step of the pre-mRNA splicing reaction

The requirement of ATP in the second step of mRNA precursor splicing was examined by dissecting the two steps of the in vitro splicing reaction using a heat-treated nuclear extract from HeLa cells. When a mRNA precursor containing two exons and a single intron from the delta-crystallin gene was initially incubated for 60 min with the heated extract, thereby allowing only the first step of the splicing reaction to occur, and subsequently with a normal extract for 10 min, the final spliced product was produced without any lag. The production of the spliced molecule during the second incubation with the normal extract represents conversion of the intermediates already formed with the heated extract into the spliced product. The conversion was stimulated by the addition of ATP during the second incubation and inhibited by a nonhydrolyzable ATP analogue. These results led us to conclude that ATP is required for the second step of the splicing reaction.