The Sm core protein SmEb regulates salt stress responses through maintaining proper splicing of RCD1 pre-mRNA in Arabidopsis

Salt stress adversely impacts crop production. Several spliceosome components have been implicated in regulating salt stress responses in plants, however, the underlying molecular basis is still unclear. Here we report that the spliceosomal core protein SmEb is essential to salt tolerance in Arabidopsis. Transcriptome analysis showed that SmEb modulates alternative splicing of hundreds of pre-mRNAs in plant response to salt stress. Further study revealed that SmEb is crucial in maintaining proper ratio of two RCD1 splicing variants (RCD1.1/RCD1.2) important for salt stress response. In addition, RCD1.1 but not RCD1.2 is able to interact with the stress regulators and attenuates salt-sensitivity by decreasing salt-induced cell death in smeb-1 mutant. Together, our findings uncovered the essential role of SmEb in the regulation of alternative pre-mRNA splicing in salt stress response.