Mutant U2AF1-induced differential alternative splicing causes an oxidative stress in bone marrow stromal cells

Alternative splicing (AS) is a critical regulatory process of gene expression. In bone marrow microenvironment, AS plays a critical role in mesenchymal stem cells fate determination by forming distinct isoforms of important regulators. As a spliceosome factor, U2AF1 is essential for the catalysis of pre-mRNA splicing, and its mutation can cause differential AS events. In the present study, by forced expression of mutant U2AF1 (U2AF1S34F) in the mouse bone marrow stroma OP9 cells, we determine AS changes in U2AF1S34F transduced OP9 cells and investigate their role in stroma cell biological functions. We find that abundant differential RNA splicing events are induced by U2AF1S34F in OP9 cells. U2AF1S34F causes increased generation of hydrogen peroxide, promotes production of cytokines and chemokines. U2AF1S34F transduced OP9 cells also exhibit dysfunction of mitochondria. RNA-seq data, gene ontology (GO), and gene set enrichment analysis reveal that differentially expressed genes downregulated in response to U2AF1S34F are enriched in peroxisome component and function. U2AF1S34F can also cause release of hydrogen peroxide from OP9 cells. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of U2AF1S34F-induced oxidative stress in stromal cells on hematopoietic cells. When co-culturing mouse bone marrow mononuclear cells with OP9 cells, the U2AF1S34F expressing OP9 cells induce phosphorylation of histone H2AX in hematopoietic cells. Collectively, our results reveal that mutant U2AF1-induced differential AS events cause oxidative stress in bone marrow stromal cells and can further lead to DNA damage and genomic instability in hematopoietic cells.