Systematic analysis of alternative first exons in plant genomes |
| |
Authors: | Wei-Hua Chen Guanting Lv Congying Lv Changqing Zeng Songnian Hu |
| |
Affiliation: | (1) Key Laboratory of Genome Science and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;(2) Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;(3) Nanyang Institute of Technology, Henan, China;(4) Bioinformatics, Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, Germany |
| |
Abstract: | Background Alternative splicing (AS) contributes significantly to protein diversity, by selectively using different combinations of exons of the same gene under certain circumstances. One particular type of AS is the use of alternative first exons (AFEs), which can have consequences far beyond the fine-tuning of protein functions. For example, AFEs may change the N-termini of proteins and thereby direct them to different cellular compartments. When alternative first exons are distant, they are usually associated with alternative promoters, thereby conferring an extra level of gene expression regulation. However, only few studies have examined the patterns of AFEs, and these analyses were mainly focused on mammalian genomes. Recent studies have shown that AFEs exist in the rice genome, and are regulated in a tissue-specific manner. Our current understanding of AFEs in plants is still limited, including important issues such as their regulation, contribution to protein diversity, and evolutionary conservation. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|