Splicing pathways of SV40 mRNAs in X. laevis oocytes differ in their requirements for snRNPs

To examine the role of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) in mRNA splicing, we have injected SV40 DNA, in the presence or absence of anti-Sm or anti-(U1)RNP antibodies, into the nucleus of X. laevis oocytes, and analyzed the viral specific RNAs and proteins that were synthesized. In the absence of antibodies, the majority of the viral mRNAs were spliced, giving rise to transcripts and proteins analogous to those found in infected monkey cells. However, the relative efficiencies with which the various splice sites were utilized were different in the two cell types. When sera from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients containing anti-Sm or anti-(U1)RNP antibodies were coinjected with the viral DNA, splicing of L-strand-specific (late) mRNA was dramatically inhibited. Cleavage at both 5' and 3' splice sites was blocked, leading to an accumulation of unspliced primary transcripts. Neither the total amount of late RNA synthesized nor the formation of mature polyadenylated late mRNA 3' ends was affected. These results indicate that U1 snRNPs play a crucial role in mRNA splicing in vivo. Unexpectedly, the effects of the sera on E-strand-specific (early) viral mRNA splicing were different. All anti-Sm or -(U1)RNP sera tested had no detectable effect on the splicing of the mRNA coding for the small tumor antigen. A subset of these sera, however, inhibited large tumor antigen mRNA splicing. On the basis of these data it is suggested that different pre-mRNAs, or even different splice sites within the same pre-mRNA, have dissimilar interactions with snRNP particles in the splicing reaction.