From chromatin to splicing: RNA-processing as a total artwork

RNA plays a central role in the determination of the phenotype of the cell. The molecular mechanisms involved in primary RNA synthesis and subsequent post-processing are not completely understood, but there is increasing evidence that they are more tightly coupled than previously expected. The analyses by a number of groups of recently published genome wide maps of chromatin structure have further uncovered a role for primary chromatin structure in RNA processing. Indeed, these analyses have revealed that nucleosomes show a characteristic occupancy pattern in exonic regions of metazoan genomes. The pattern is strongly indicative of an implication of nucleosome positioning in exon recognition during pre-mRNA splicing. Characteristic exonic patterns have also been observed for a number of histone modifications, suggesting the possibility that chromatin state plays a direct role in the regulation of splicing.