A starvation-remodeled pre-mRNA structure controls U1 recruitment and nutrient-stress adaptation in yeast

The study, posted on bioRxiv, describes a base-pairing interaction between the 5'UTR and an intron near the 5' splice site in budding yeast. This element is enriched among introns that require splicing under starvation conditions, and its formation blocks U1 engagement, while nutrient stress remodels the structure to relieve the block. The work shows that pre-mRNA structure can dynamically modulate spliceosome assembly beyond simple sequence complementarity. Since this is a preprint, the findings await peer review, but they suggest that similar structural gates may exist in other organisms. Future work may explore how these elements are remodeled and whether they contribute to stress adaptation in higher eukaryotes.