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Identification and analysis of alternative splicing events conserved in human and mouse.

ABSTRACT: Alternative pre-mRNA splicing affects a majority of human genes and plays important roles in development and disease. Alternative splicing (AS) events conserved since the divergence of human and mouse are likely of primary biological importance, but relatively few of such events are known. Here we describe sequence features that distinguish exons subject to evolutionarily conserved AS, which we call alternative conserved exons (ACEs), from other orthologous human/mouse exons and integrate these features into an exon classification algorithm, acescan. Genome-wide analysis of annotated orthologous human-mouse exon pairs identified approximately 2,000 predicted ACEs. Alternative splicing was verified in both human and mouse tissues by using an RT-PCR-sequencing protocol for 21 of 30 (70%) predicted ACEs tested, supporting the validity of a majority of acescan predictions. By contrast, AS was observed in mouse tissues for only 2 of 15 (13%) tested exons that had EST or cDNA evidence of AS in human but were not predicted ACEs, and AS was never observed for 11 negative control exons in human or mouse tissues. Predicted ACEs were much more likely to preserve the reading frame and less likely to disrupt protein domains than other AS events and were enriched in genes expressed in the brain and in genes involved in transcriptional regulation, RNA processing, and development. Our results also imply that the vast majority of AS events represented in the human EST database are not conserved in mouse.

SUBMITTER: Yeo GW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC548664 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundAlternative splicing (AS) is important for evolution and major biological functions in complex organisms. However, the extent of AS in mammals other than human and mouse is largely unknown, making it difficult to study AS evolution in mammals and its biomedical implications.ResultsHere we describe a cross-species EST-to-genome comparison algorithm (ENACE) that can identify novel exons for EST-scanty species and distinguish conserved and lineage-specific exons. The identified exons represent not only novel exons but also evolutionarily meaningful AS events that are not previously annotated. A genome-wide AS analysis in human, mouse and rat using ENACE reveals a total of 758 novel cassette-on exons and 167 novel retained introns that have no EST evidence from the same species. RT-PCR-sequencing experiments validated approximately 50 approximately 80% of the tested exons, indicating high presence of exons predicted by ENACE. ENACE is particularly powerful when applied to closely related species. In addition, our analysis shows that the ENACE-identified AS exons tend not to pass the nonsynonymous-to-synonymous substitution ratio test and not to contain protein domain, implying that such exons may be under positive selection or relaxed negative selection. These AS exons may contribute to considerable inter-species functional divergence. Our analysis further indicates that a large number of exons may have been gained or lost during mammalian evolution. Moreover, a functional analysis shows that inter-species divergence of AS events may be substantial in protein carriers and receptor proteins in mammals. These exons may be of interest to studies of AS evolution. The ENACE programs and sequences of the ENACE-identified AS events are available for download.ConclusionENACE can identify potential novel cassette exons and retained introns between closely related species using a comparative approach. It can also provide information regarding lineage- or species-specificity in transcript isoforms, which are important for evolutionary and functional studies.

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Identification and analysis of alternative splicing events conserved in human and mouse.

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