Dataset Information

Systematic analysis of alternative first exons in plant genomes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Alternative splicing (AS) contributes significantly to protein diversity, by selectively using different combinations of exons of the same gene under certain circumstances. One particular type of AS is the use of alternative first exons (AFEs), which can have consequences far beyond the fine-tuning of protein functions. For example, AFEs may change the N-termini of proteins and thereby direct them to different cellular compartments. When alternative first exons are distant, they are usually associated with alternative promoters, thereby conferring an extra level of gene expression regulation. However, only few studies have examined the patterns of AFEs, and these analyses were mainly focused on mammalian genomes. Recent studies have shown that AFEs exist in the rice genome, and are regulated in a tissue-specific manner. Our current understanding of AFEs in plants is still limited, including important issues such as their regulation, contribution to protein diversity, and evolutionary conservation.

Results

We systematically identified 1,378 and 645 AFE-containing clusters in rice and Arabidopsis, respectively. From our data sets, we identified two types of AFEs according to their genomic organisation. In genes with type I AFEs, the first exons are mutually exclusive, while most of the downstream exons are shared among alternative transcripts. Conversely, in genes with type II AFEs, the first exon of one gene structure is an internal exon of an alternative gene structure. The functionality analysis indicated about half and approximately 19% of the AFEs in Arabidopsis and rice could alter N-terminal protein sequences, and approximately 5% of the functional alteration in type II AFEs involved protein domain addition/deletion in both genomes. Expression analysis indicated that 20-66% of rice AFE clusters were tissue- and/or development- specifically transcribed, which is consistent with previous observations; however, a much smaller percentage of Arabidopsis AFEs was regulated in this manner, which suggests different regulation mechanisms of AFEs between rice and Arabidopsis. Statistical analysis of some features of AFE clusters, such as splice-site strength and secondary structure formation further revealed differences between these two species. Orthologous search of AFE-containing gene pairs detected only 19 gene pairs conserved between rice and Arabidopsis, accounting only for a few percent of AFE-containing clusters.

Conclusion

Our analysis of AFE-containing genes in rice and Arabidopsis indicates that AFEs have multiple functions, from regulating gene expression to generating protein diversity. Comparisons of AFE clusters revealed different features in the two plant species, which indicates that AFEs may have evolved independently after the separation of rice (a model monocot) and Arabidopsis (a model dicot).

SUBMITTER: Chen WH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2174465 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Systematic analysis of alternative first exons in plant genomes.

Chen Wei-Hua WH Lv Guanting G Lv Congying C Zeng Changqing C Hu Songnian S

BMC plant biology 20071017

<h4>Background</h4>Alternative splicing (AS) contributes significantly to protein diversity, by selectively using different combinations of exons of the same gene under certain circumstances. One particular type of AS is the use of alternative first exons (AFEs), which can have consequences far beyond the fine-tuning of protein functions. For example, AFEs may change the N-termini of proteins and thereby direct them to different cellular compartments. When alternative first exons are distant, th ...[more]

PMID: 17941993

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Project description:BACKGROUND: The human Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG) gene, located at 17p13.1, comprises, at least, two different transcription units regulated by two different promoters. The first transcription unit begins with the exon 1 sequence and is responsible for the production of plasma SHBG by the hepatocytes, while the second begins with an alternative exon 1 sequence, which replaces the exon 1 present in liver transcripts. Alternative exon 1 transcription and translation has only been demonstrated in the testis of transgenic mice containing an 11-kb human SHBG transgene and in the human testis. Our goal has been to further characterize the 5' end of the SHBG gene and analyze the presence of the SHBG alternative transcripts in human prostate tissue and derived cell lines. RESULTS: Using a combination of in silico and in vitro studies, we have demonstrated that the SHBG gene, along with exon 1 and alternative exon 1 (renamed here exon 1A), contains four additional alternative first exons: the novel exons 1B, 1C, and 1E, and a previously identified exon 1N, which has been further characterized and renamed as exon 1D. We have shown that these four alternative first exons are all spliced to the same 3' splice site of SHBG exon 2, and that exon 1A and the novel exon 1B can be spliced to exon 1. We have also demonstrated the presence of SHBG transcripts beginning with exons 1B, 1C and 1D in prostate tissues and cell lines, as well as in several non-prostatic cell lines. Finally, the alignment of the SHBG mammalian sequences revealed that, while exons 1C, 1D and 1E are very well conserved phylogenetically through non-primate mammal species, exon 1B probably aroused in apes due to a single nucleotide change that generated a new 5' splice site in exon 1B. CONCLUSION: The identification of multiple transcription start sites (TSS) upstream of the annotated first exon of human SHBG, and the detection of the alternative transcripts in human prostate, concur with the prediction of the ENCODE (ENCyclopedia of DNA Elements) project, and suggest that the regulation of SHBG is much more complex than previously reported.

Project description:We describe here the Drosophila gene hydra that appears to have originated de novo in the melanogaster subgroup and subsequently evolved in both structure and expression level in Drosophila melanogaster and its sibling species. D. melanogaster hydra encodes a predicted protein of approximately 300 amino acids with no apparent similarity to any previously known proteins. The syntenic region flanking hydra on both sides is found in both D. ananassae and D. pseudoobscura, but hydra is found only in melanogaster subgroup species, suggesting that it originated less than approximately 13 million y ago. Exon 1 of hydra has undergone recurrent duplications, leading to the formation of nine tandem alternative exon 1s in D. melanogaster. Seven of these alternative exons are flanked on their 3' side by the transposon DINE-1 (Drosophila interspersed element-1). We demonstrate that at least four of the nine duplicated exon 1s can function as alternative transcription start sites. The entire hydra locus has also duplicated in D. simulans and D. sechellia. D. melanogaster hydra is expressed most intensely in the proximal testis, suggesting a role in late-stage spermatogenesis. The coding region of hydra has a relatively high Ka/Ks ratio between species, but the ratio is less than 1 in all comparisons, suggesting that hydra is subject to functional constraint. Analysis of sequence polymorphism and divergence of hydra shows that it has evolved under positive selection in the lineage leading to D. melanogaster. The dramatic structural changes surrounding the first exons do not affect the tissue specificity of gene expression: hydra is expressed predominantly in the testes in D. melanogaster, D. simulans, and D. yakuba. However, we have found that expression level changed dramatically (approximately >20-fold) between D. melanogaster and D. simulans. While hydra initially evolved in the absence of nearby transposable element insertions, we suggest that the subsequent accumulation of repetitive sequences in the hydra region may have contributed to structural and expression-level evolution by inducing rearrangements and causing local heterochromatinization. Our analysis further shows that recurrent evolution of both gene structure and expression level may be characteristics of newly evolved genes. We also suggest that late-stage spermatogenesis is the functional target for newly evolved and rapidly evolving male-specific genes.

Dataset Information

Systematic analysis of alternative first exons in plant genomes.

Background

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Systematic analysis of alternative first exons in plant genomes.

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