The expanding functional landscape of alternative splicing in plants.

Abstract

Alternative splicing (AS) massively expands transcriptome diversity but does so within a densely interconnected regulatory network that challenges simple, linear models of gene expression. Despite its pervasiveness, principles governing AS choices and their functional outcomes are only beginning to emerge. Recent work in plants places AS at the interface of transcriptional dynamics, RNA fate, and protein output, raising fundamental questions about how transcript diversity translates into function. In parallel, splicing factors are increasingly recognized as multifunctional regulators with 'moonlighting' roles beyond pre-mRNA processing, including roles in chromatin, transcription, silencing, and stress responses. Here, we discuss how splicing-dependent and splicing-independent activities are integrated and propose a framework in which splicing factors act as regulatory hubs coordinating gene expression across multiple layers.