Recursive splicing in long vertebrate genes

It is generally believed that splicing removes introns as single units from pre-mRNA transcripts. However, some long D. melanogaster introns contain a cryptic site, called a recursive splice site (RS-site), that enables a multi-step process of intron removal termed recursive splicing(1,2). The extent to which recursive splicing occurs in other species and its mechanistic basis remain unclear. Here we identify highly conserved RS-sites in genes expressed in the mammalian brain that encode proteins functioning in neuronal development. Moreover, the RS-sites are found in some of the longest introns across vertebrates. We find that vertebrate recursive splicing requires initial definition of a “RS-exon” that follows the RS-site. The RS-exon is then excluded from the dominant mRNA isoform due to competition with a reconstituted 5′ splice site formed at the RS-site after the first splicing step. Conversely, the RS-exon is included when preceded by cryptic exons or promoters that are prevalent in long introns, but which fail to reconstitute an efficient 5′ splice site. Most RS-exons contain a premature stop codon such that their inclusion may decrease mRNA stability. Thus, by establishing a binary splicing switch, RS-sites demarcate different mRNA isoforms emerging from long genes by coupling inclusion of cryptic elements with RS-exons.