Skip to main content

Preparation of Splicing Competent Nuclear Extract from Mammalian Cells and In Vitro Pre-mRNA Splicing Assay

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
mRNA Processing

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1648))

Abstract

The ability to perform in vitro splicing assays has paved the way for in-depth studies of the mechanisms and machinery involved in the process of splicing. The in vitro splicing assay is a valuable experimental approach that combines the complexity of the spliceosome and regulatory systems with the flexibility of performing endless splicing and alternative splicing reactions. Through the use of crude nuclear extract and radiolabeled pre-mRNA, spliced mRNAs can be visualized using autoradiography for downstream analysis. This chapter describes the necessary steps to perform an in vitro splicing reaction, including the generation of the key components necessary for the splicing reaction; nuclear extract.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Merkhofer EC, Hu P, Johnson TL (2014) Introduction to cotranscriptional RNA splicing. Methods Mol Biol 1126:83–96

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Moore MJ, Query CC, Sharp PA (1993) 13 Splicing of precursors to mRNA by the Spliceosome. Cold Spring Harb Monogr Arch 24:303–357

    Google Scholar 

  3. Hertel KJ (2008) Combinatorial control of exon recognition. J Biol Chem 283:1211–1215

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Roca X, Karginov FV (2012) RNA biology in a test tube – an overview of in vitro systems/assays. Wiley Interdiscip Rev RNA 3:509–527

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Hicks MJ, Lam BJ, Hertel KJ (2005) Analyzing mechanisms of alternative pre-mRNA splicing using in vitro splicing assays. Methods 37:306–313

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Movassat M, Mueller WF, Hertel KJ (2014) In vitro assay of pre-mRNA splicing in mammalian nuclear extract. Methods Mol Biol 1126:151–160

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Cooper TA (2005) Use of minigene systems to dissect alternative splicing elements. Methods 37:331–340

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Dignam JD, Lebovitz RM, Roeder RG (1983) Accurate transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II in a soluble extract from isolated mammalian nuclei. Nucleic Acids Res 11:1475–1489

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Krainer AR, Maniatis T, Ruskin B, Green MR (1984) Normal and mutant human β-globin pre-mRNAs are faithfully and efficiently spliced in vitro. Cell 36:993–1005

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Pugh BF (1995) Preparation of HeLa nuclear extracts. Methods Mol Biol 37:349–357

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Mayeda A, Krainer AR (1999) Preparation of HeLa cell nuclear and cytosolic S100 extracts for in vitro splicing. Methods Mol Biol 118:309–314

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Abmayr SM, Yao T, Parmely T, Workman JL (2006) Preparation of nuclear and cytoplasmic extracts from mammalian cells. Curr Protoc Mol Biol Chapter 12:Unit 12.1

    Google Scholar 

  13. Kataoka N, Dreyfuss G (2008) Preparation of efficient splicing extracts from whole cells, nuclei, and cytoplasmic fractions. Methods Mol Biol 488:357–365

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Webb C-HT, Hertel KJ (2014) Preparation of splicing competent nuclear extracts. Methods Mol Biol 1126:117–121

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Nilsen TW Preparation of nuclear extracts from HeLa cells. Cold Spring Harb Protoc 2013, 2013:579–583

    Google Scholar 

  16. Hernandez N, Keller W (1983) Splicing of in vitro synthesized messenger RNA precursors in HeLa cell extracts. Cell 35:89–99

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Reichert V, Moore MJ (2000) Better conditions for mammalian in vitro splicing provided by acetate and glutamate as potassium counterions. Nucleic Acids Res 28:416–423

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Carey MF, Peterson CL, Smale ST (2009) Dignam and Roeder nuclear extract preparation. Cold Spring Harb Protoc 4:1–4

    Google Scholar 

  19. Mayeda A, Krainer AR (1999) Mammalian in vitro splicing assays. Methods Mol Biol 118:315–321

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Johnston RF, Pickett SC, Barker DL (1990) Autoradiography using storage phosphor technology. Electrophoresis 11:355–360

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Research in the Hertel laboratory is supported by NIH (GM062287 and GM110244). Maliheh Movassat and Hossein Shenasa contributed equally to this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Klemens J. Hertel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media LLC

About this protocol

Cite this protocol

Movassat, M., Shenasa, H., Hertel, K.J. (2017). Preparation of Splicing Competent Nuclear Extract from Mammalian Cells and In Vitro Pre-mRNA Splicing Assay. In: Shi, Y. (eds) mRNA Processing. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1648. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7204-3_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7204-3_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7203-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7204-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics