4 Yeast Pre-mRNA Splicing

Abstract

I. INTRODUCTION
The study of pre-mRNA splicing in yeast has enjoyed remarkable success during the past several years (for other recent reviews, see Guthrie 1991; Rosbash and Séraphin 1991; Ruby and Abelson 1991). This is now a mature discipline in which detailed and mechanistic questions are being asked and answered. However, the complexity of the process, i.e., the large number of gene products needed for splicing and the multiple levels at which the problem is currently being studied, can limit the attention of the casual observer. Yet conclusions from these studies in yeast have played an important, if not central, role in our current view of how eukaryotic pre-mRNA processing takes place. As with many other topics covered in these volumes, two facts help to explain the importance of the yeast work on splicing. First, Saccharomyces cerevisiae allows the application of the three major tools of modern molecular biology: genetics, biochemistry, and physiology. This chapter will show that the ability to combine all three approaches has had a major influence on our current understanding of pre-mRNA splicing. Second, yeast splicing and metazoan splicing are very similar and rely on many of the same factors and principles. The apparent differences may reflect the shortcomings of the strictly biochemical approach available to the metazoan workers, rather than genuine differences in the processes.

The genetic study of pre-mRNA splicing in S. cerevisiae has as its roots a study that preceded by almost 10 years the discovery of splicing itself. Between 1967 and 1970,...