Alternative splicing plays a vital role in regulating pollen allergen (Ole e 1) P19963 protein in Gossypium arboreum

Alternative splicing regulation (AS) is an important post-transcriptional gene regulatory mechanism for increasing the complexity and diversity of transcriptomes and subsequently proteomes. In this study, we performed transcriptomic analysis of Gossypium arboreum to explore the process of alternative splicing regulation in pollen allergen (Ole e 1) P19963 protein. The P19963 causes skin allergies because of its acidic properties. The P19963 protein was observed to undergo intron retention at seedling stage (IR); a type of alternative splicing regulation events when intron is not spliced out after the action of splicing machinery. Experimental validation using RT-PCR and sanger sequencing also proved retention of intronic region in the mature mRNA transcript of P19963 protein. We observed that even if this gene was expressing at later stages of plant development i.e., pollen producing stage, but due to alternative splicing it became disrupted at the seedling stage. The non-functionality of protein can be beneficial or harmful but in our case as the gene is having IR and becomes non-functional, it is beneficial as the pollen allergies and skin allergies can be minimized at this stage or not required at all.