Alternative splicing

Alternative splicing, or differential splicing, is a regulated process during gene expression that results in a single gene coding for multiple proteins. In this process, particular exons of a gene may be included within or excluded from the final, processed messenger RNA (mRNA) produced from that gene. Consequently, the proteins translated from alternatively spliced mRNAs will contain differences in their amino acid sequence and, often, in their biological functions (see Figure). Notably, alternative splicing allows the human genome to direct the synthesis of many more proteins than would be expected from its 20,000 protein-coding genes.

Alternative splicing occurs as a normal phenomenon in eukaryotes, where it greatly increases the biodiversity of proteins that can be encoded by the genome; in humans, ~95% of multi-exonic genes are alternatively spliced. There are numerous modes of alternative splicing observed, of which the most common is exon skipping. In this mode, a particular exon may be included in mRNAs under some conditions or in particular tissues, and omitted from the mRNA in others.

The production of alternatively spliced mRNAs is regulated by a system of trans-acting proteins that bind to cis-acting sites on the primary transcript itself. Such proteins include splicing activators that promote the usage of a particular splice site, and splicing repressors that reduce the usage of a particular site. Mechanisms of alternative splicing are highly variable, and new examples are constantly being found, particularly through the use of high-throughput techniques. Researchers hope to fully elucidate the regulatory systems involved in splicing, so that alternative splicing products from a given gene under particular conditions ("splicing variants") could be predicted by a "splicing code".

Abnormal variations in splicing are also implicated in disease; a large proportion of human genetic disorders result from splicing variants. Abnormal splicing variants are also thought to contribute to the development of cancer, and splicing factor genes are frequently mutated in different types of cancer.

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