Splicing of U12-type introns deposits an exon junction complex competent to induce nonsense-mediated mRNA decay

Metazoan cells have two pathways for intron removal involving the U2- and U12-type spliceosomes, which contain mostly nonoverlapping sets of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins. We show that in vitro splicing of a U12-type intron assembles an exon junction complex (EJC) that is comparably positioned and contains many of the same components as that deposited by the U2-type spliceosome. The presence of a U12-type intron downstream of a premature termination codon within an open reading frame (ORF) induces nonsense-mediated decay of the mRNA in vivo. These findings suggest a common pathway for EJC assembly by the two spliceosomes and highlight the evolutionary age of the EJC and its downstream functions in gene expression.