Non-Canonical Functions of Splicing Factors in RNA Metabolism

Abstract

Abstract Noncoding RNA (ncRNA), such as microRNA (miRNAs), long ncRNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs) play roles in plant growth, development, and response to environmental cues via diverse manners. Splicing factors are critical for precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs) splicing and alternative splicing. Strikingly, over the past few years, an increasing number of studies demonstrated that splicing factors couple splicing to other processes, such as ncRNA biogenesis, nuclear retention, and cytoplasmic export of various RNAs, and even translation. Here, we review the current status of the noncanonical functions of splicing factors in the ncRNAs processing, retention and export of RNAs, and translation in plants.