August 27, 2017- GNOBB offer their heartiest congratulations to Dr. Enamul Huq (One of the GNOBB founder members) and his associates at University of Texas at Austin for their recent publication in PNAS. The details are as follows:

SPF45-related splicing factor for phytochrome signaling promotes photomorphogenesis by regulating pre-mRNA splicing in Arabidopsis

Environmental light signals have a profound effect on plant growth and development by controlling a large number of gene expression changes. A large body if information is available on how light controls transcription of thousands of genes; however, how light signals regulate pre-mRNA processing is not understood. In this study, the Huq laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin has discovered a new splicing factor named SPLICING FACTOR FOR PHYTOCHROME SIGNALING (SFPS), which directly interacts with the photoreceptor phytochrome B. sfps mutant seedlings are hyposensitive to light and display pre-mRNA splicing defects in a large number of genes, many of which regulate light signaling, photosynthesis and circadian clock. Thus, light might coordinately control pre-mRNA splicing and transcription of many genes through SFPS to promote plant growth and development in response to ambient light signals. 
Readers are directed to the full text using the following link: http://www.pnas.org/content/114/33/E7018.full