Alternative splicing mechanisms for the modulation of protein function: conservation between human and other species.

TitleAlternative splicing mechanisms for the modulation of protein function: conservation between human and other species.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2004
AuthorsValenzuela, Abel, Talavera David, Orozco Modesto, and de la Cruz Xavier
JournalJ Mol Biol
Volume335
Pagination495-502
Date Published2004 Jan 9
ISSN0022-2836
KeywordsAlternative Splicing, Animals, Conserved Sequence, Databases, Drosophila melanogaster, Gene Expression Regulation, Genetic, Genome, Humans, Messenger, Mice, Nucleic Acid, Protein Isoforms, Rats, RNA, Sequence Alignment, Species Specificity, Transcription
Abstract

Alternative splicing (AS) is an important process in eukaryotic organisms by which a given gene may express a set of different protein isoforms depending on the tissue, or the developmental stage of the individual. In the present work, we have compared AS among species, focusing on the conservation of AS mechanisms for the modulation of protein function. For this purpose, we first analysed the frequency with which different species, human, mouse, rat and fruitfly, utilise them. Second, we focused more directly on the conservation among species of the mechanisms themselves. To this end, we compared biologically equivalent AS events between human and mouse, or rat. Our results indicate only minor differences in the frequency of use of these mechanisms, as well as a high degree of conservation among the species studied.