title: The implications of alternative splicing in the ENCODE protein complement.
abstract: Alternative premessenger RNA splicing enables genes to generate more than one gene product. Splicing events that occur within protein coding regions have the potential to alter the biological function of the expressed protein and even to create new protein functions. Alternative splicing has been suggested as one explanation for the discrepancy between the number of human genes and functional complexity. Here, we carry out a detailed study of the alternatively spliced gene products annotated in the ENCODE pilot project. We find that alternative splicing in human genes is more frequent than has commonly been suggested, and we demonstrate that many of the potential alternative gene products will have markedly different structure and function from their constitutively spliced counterparts. For the vast majority of these alternative isoforms, little evidence exists to suggest they have a role as functional proteins, and it seems unlikely that the spectrum of conventional enzymatic or structural functions can be substantially extended through alternative splicing.
authors: Structural Computational Biology Programme, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, E-28029 Madrid, Spain. mtress@cnio.es
authors: Michael L
authors: ML
authors: Tress
authors: Pier Luigi
authors: PL
authors: Martelli
authors: Adam
authors: A
authors: Frankish
authors: Gabrielle A
authors: GA
authors: Reeves
authors: Jan Jaap
authors: JJ
authors: Wesselink
authors: Corin
authors: C
authors: Yeats
authors: Páll Isólfur
authors: PI
authors: Olason
authors: Mario
authors: M
authors: Albrecht
authors: Hedi
authors: H
authors: Hegyi
authors: Alejandro
authors: A
authors: Giorgetti
authors: Domenico
authors: D
authors: Raimondo
authors: Julien
authors: J
authors: Lagarde
authors: Roman A
authors: RA
authors: Laskowski
authors: Gonzalo
authors: G
authors: López
authors: Michael I
authors: MI
authors: Sadowski
authors: James D
authors: JD
authors: Watson
authors: Piero
authors: P
authors: Fariselli
authors: Ivan
authors: I
authors: Rossi
authors: Alinda
authors: A
authors: Nagy
authors: Wang
authors: W
authors: Kai
authors: Zenia
authors: Z
authors: Størling
authors: Massimiliano
authors: M
authors: Orsini
authors: Yassen
authors: Y
authors: Assenov
authors: Hagen
authors: H
authors: Blankenburg
authors: Carola
authors: C
authors: Huthmacher
authors: Fidel
authors: F
authors: Ramírez
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Schlicker
authors: France
authors: F
authors: Denoeud
authors: Phil
authors: P
authors: Jones
authors: Samuel
authors: S
authors: Kerrien
authors: Sandra
authors: S
authors: Orchard
authors: Stylianos E
authors: SE
authors: Antonarakis
authors: Alexandre
authors: A
authors: Reymond
authors: Ewan
authors: E
authors: Birney
authors: Søren
authors: S
authors: Brunak
authors: Rita
authors: R
authors: Casadio
authors: Roderic
authors: R
authors: Guigo
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Harrow
authors: Henning
authors: H
authors: Hermjakob
authors: David T
authors: DT
authors: Jones
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Lengauer
authors: Christine A
authors: CA
authors: Orengo
authors: László
authors: L
authors: Patthy
authors: Janet M
authors: JM
authors: Thornton
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Tramontano
authors: Alfonso
authors: A
authors: Valencia
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D012322:RNA Precursors; D012326:RNA Splicing
chemical_list: D020033:Protein Isoforms; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D011506:Proteins; D012322:RNA Precursors