Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Evolution of Nova-dependent splicing regulation in the brain.


ABSTRACT: A large number of alternative exons are spliced with tissue-specific patterns, but little is known about how such patterns have evolved. Here, we study the conservation of the neuron-specific splicing factors Nova1 and Nova2 and of the alternatively spliced exons they regulate in mouse brain. Whereas Nova RNA binding domains are 94% identical across vertebrate species, Nova-dependent splicing silencer and enhancer elements (YCAY clusters) show much greater divergence, as less than 50% of mouse YCAY clusters are conserved at orthologous positions in the zebrafish genome. To study the relation between the evolution of tissue-specific splicing and YCAY clusters, we compared the brain-specific splicing of Nova-regulated exons in zebrafish, chicken, and mouse. The presence of YCAY clusters in lower vertebrates invariably predicted conservation of brain-specific splicing across species, whereas their absence in lower vertebrates correlated with a loss of alternative splicing. We hypothesize that evolution of Nova-regulated splicing in higher vertebrates proceeds mainly through changes in cis-acting elements, that tissue-specific splicing might in some cases evolve in a single step corresponding to evolution of a YCAY cluster, and that the conservation level of YCAY clusters relates to the functions encoded by the regulated RNAs.

SUBMITTER: Jelen N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2014790 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC3069165 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3552424 | biostudies-literature
2023-06-20 | GSE143316 | GEO
| S-EPMC18606 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC2901138 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3753194 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3412410 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC2954053 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6370011 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC2686173 | biostudies-literature