A bioinformatics analysis of alternative exon usage in human genes coding for extracellular matrix proteins

Alternative splicing increases protein diversity through the generation of different mRNA molecules from the same gene. Although alternative splicing seems to be a widespread phenomenon in the human transcriptome, it is possible that different subgroups of genes present different patterns, related t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genetics and molecular research 2004-12, Vol.3 (4), p.532-544
Main Authors: Sakabe, Noboru Jo, Vibranovski, Maria Dulcetti, de Souza, Sandro José
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative Splicing - genetics
Cluster Analysis
Computational Biology - methods
DNA, Complementary - genetics
Exons - genetics
Extracellular Matrix Proteins - genetics
Gene Library
Genetic Code
Humans
Models, Genetic
Proteome
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Summary:Alternative splicing increases protein diversity through the generation of different mRNA molecules from the same gene. Although alternative splicing seems to be a widespread phenomenon in the human transcriptome, it is possible that different subgroups of genes present different patterns, related to their biological roles. Analysis of a subgroup may enhance common features of its members that would otherwise disappear amidst a heterogeneous population. Extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins are a good set for such analyses since they are structurally and functionally related. This family of proteins is involved in a large variety of functions, probably achieved by the combinatorial use of protein domains through exon shuffling events. To determine if ECM genes have a different pattern of alternative splicing, we compared clusters of expressed sequences of ECM to all other genes regarding features related to the most frequent type of alternative splicing, alternative exon usage (AEU), such as: the number of alternative exon-intron structures per cluster, the number of AEU events per exon-intron structure, the number of exons per event, among others. Although we did not find many differences between the two sets, we observed a higher frequency of AEU events involving entire protein domains in the ECM set, a feature that could be associated with their multi-domain nature. As other subgroups or even the ECM set in different tissues could present distinct patterns of AEU, it may be premature to conclude that alternative splicing is homogeneous among groups of related genes.
ISSN:1676-5680
1676-5680