Widespread evolutionary conservation of alternatively spliced exons in caenorhabditis.

TY - JOUR

T1 - Widespread evolutionary conservation of alternatively spliced exons in caenorhabditis.

AU - Irimia, Manuel

AU - Rukov, Jakob L

AU - Penny, David

AU - Garcia-Fernandez, Jordi

AU - Vinther, Jeppe

AU - Roy, Scott W

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - Alternative splicing (AS) contributes to increased transcriptome and proteome diversity in various eukaryotic lineages. Previous studies showed low levels of conservation of alternatively spliced (cassette) exons within mammals and within dipterans. We report a strikingly different pattern in Caenorhabditis nematodes-more than 92% of cassette exons from Caenorhabditis elegans are conserved in Caenorhabditis briggsae and/or Caenorhabditis remanei. High levels of conservation extend to minor-form exons (present in a minority of transcripts) and are particularly pronounced for exons showing complex patterns of splicing. The functionality of the vast majority of cassette exons is underscored by various other features. We suggest that differences in conservation between lineages reflect differences in levels of functionality and further suggest that these differences are due to differences in intron length and the strength of consensus boundaries across lineages. Finally, we demonstrate an inverse relationship between AS and gene duplication, suggesting that the latter may be primarily responsible for the emergence of new functional transcripts in nematodes. Udgivelsesdato: 2008-Feb

AB - Alternative splicing (AS) contributes to increased transcriptome and proteome diversity in various eukaryotic lineages. Previous studies showed low levels of conservation of alternatively spliced (cassette) exons within mammals and within dipterans. We report a strikingly different pattern in Caenorhabditis nematodes-more than 92% of cassette exons from Caenorhabditis elegans are conserved in Caenorhabditis briggsae and/or Caenorhabditis remanei. High levels of conservation extend to minor-form exons (present in a minority of transcripts) and are particularly pronounced for exons showing complex patterns of splicing. The functionality of the vast majority of cassette exons is underscored by various other features. We suggest that differences in conservation between lineages reflect differences in levels of functionality and further suggest that these differences are due to differences in intron length and the strength of consensus boundaries across lineages. Finally, we demonstrate an inverse relationship between AS and gene duplication, suggesting that the latter may be primarily responsible for the emergence of new functional transcripts in nematodes. Udgivelsesdato: 2008-Feb

U2 - 10.1093/molbev/msm262

DO - 10.1093/molbev/msm262

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 18048400

SN - 0737-4038

VL - 25

SP - 375

EP - 382

JO - Molecular Biology and Evolution

JF - Molecular Biology and Evolution

IS - 2

ER -