title: Genome-wide analysis of alternative pre-mRNA splicing.
abstract: Alternative splicing of mRNA precursors allows the synthesis of multiple mRNAs from a single primary transcript, significantly expanding the information content and regulatory possibilities of higher eukaryotic genomes. High-throughput enabling technologies, particularly large-scale sequencing and splicing-sensitive microarrays, are providing unprecedented opportunities to address key questions in this field. The picture emerging from these pioneering studies is that alternative splicing affects most human genes and a significant fraction of the genes in other multicellular organisms, with the potential to greatly influence the evolution of complex genomes. A combinatorial code of regulatory signals and factors can deploy physiologically coherent programs of alternative splicing that are distinct from those regulated at other steps of gene expression. Pre-mRNA splicing and its regulation play important roles in human pathologies, and genome-wide analyses in this area are paving the way for improved diagnostic tools and for the identification of novel and more specific pharmaceutical targets.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Regulació Genòmica, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ben-Dov
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.forename: Josefin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lundgren
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valcárcel
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D004194:Disease; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012322:RNA Precursors