In animals, egg activation triggers a cascade of posttranscriptional events that act on maternally synthesized RNAs. We show that, in Drosophila, the PAN GU (PNG) kinase sits near the top of this cascade, triggering translation of SMAUG (SMG), a multifunctional posttranscriptional regulator conserved from yeast to humans. Although PNG is required for cytoplasmic polyadenylation of smg mRNA, it regulates translation via mechanisms that are independent of its effects on the poly(A) tail. Analyses of mutants suggest that PNG relieves translational repression by PUMILIO (PUM) and one or more additional factors, which act in parallel through the smg mRNA's 3' untranslated region (UTR). Microarray-based gene expression profiling shows that SMG is a major regulator of maternal transcript destabilization. SMG-dependent mRNAs are enriched for gene ontology annotations for function in the cell cycle, suggesting a possible causal relationship between failure to eliminate these transcripts and the cell cycle defects in smg mutants.

The tight control of gene expression at the level of both transcription and post-transcriptional RNA processing is essential for mammalian development. We here investigate the role of protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5), a putative splicing regulator and transcriptional cofactor, in mammalian development. We demonstrate that selective deletion of PRMT5 in neural stem/progenitor cells (NPCs) leads to postnatal death in mice. At the molecular level, the absence of PRMT5 results in reduced methylation of Sm proteins, aberrant constitutive splicing, and the alternative splicing of specific mRNAs with weak 59 donor sites. Intriguingly, the products of these mRNAs are, among others, several proteins regulating cell cycle progression. We identify Mdm4 as one of these key mRNAs that senses the defects in the spliceosomal machinery and transduces the signal to activate the p53 response, providing a mechanistic explanation of the phenotype observed in vivo. Our data demonstrate that PRMT5 is a master regulator of splicing in mammals and uncover a new role for the Mdm4 pre-mRNA, which could be exploited for anti-cancer therapy.