title: Microexons go big.
abstract: Microexons are frequently underestimated in transcriptome analyses. Two studies published in Cell and Genome Research now independently report the identification of hundreds of microexons. Alternative splicing of some microexons is regulated by neuronal-specific RNA-binding proteins and modifies the function of proteins involved in neurogenesis, with misregulation linked to autism.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology; CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China. Electronic address: liyang@picb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Andrology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 200031, China. Electronic address: linglingchen@sibcb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Ling-Ling
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Chen