Shedding UV light on alternative splicing.

Cell

Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.

Published: May 2009

After DNA damage, cells modulate pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) splicing to induce an anti- or proapoptotic response. In this issue, Muñoz et al. (2009) uncover a cotranscriptional mechanism for activating alternative pre-mRNA splicing after ultraviolet irradiation that depends unexpectedly on hyperphosphorylation of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain and decreased rates of transcription elongation.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2009.04.054DOI Listing

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