title: Alternative splicing of conserved exons is frequently species-specific in human and mouse.
abstract: In this article, we provide evidence that a frequent source of diversity between mammalian transcripts occurs as a consequence of species-specific alternative splicing (AS) of conserved exons. Using a highly predictive computational method, we estimate that >11% of human and mouse cassette alternative exons undergo skipping in one species but constitutively splicing in the other. These species-specific AS events are predicted to modify conserved domains in proteins more frequently than other classes of AS events. The results thus provide evidence that species-specific AS of conserved exons constitutes an additional potential source of complexity and species-specific differences between mammals.
authors.affiliation: CH Best Institute, University of Toronto, 112 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1L6.
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Malina A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bakowski
authors.forename: Quaid
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Brendan J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Frey
authors.forename: Timothy R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Benjamin J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Blencowe
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000818:Animals; D005091:Exons; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008957:Models, Genetic; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012984:Software; D013045:Species Specificity