What is alternative splicing?
Q: What is alternative splicing?
A: Alternative splicing is a process in which the exons of pre-messenger RNA produced by transcription are reconnected in different ways during RNA splicing, resulting in different mature messenger RNAs from the same gene that get translated into different proteins.
Q: How common is alternative splicing?
A: Alternative splicing is normal in eukaryotes and greatly increases the diversity of proteins that can be encoded by the genome. In humans, around 95% of multiexonic genes are alternatively spliced.
Q: What are some types of alternative splicing?
A: The most common type of alternative splicing is exon skipping, where an exon may be included or omitted from mRNA depending on certain conditions or tissues. There are also other types such as splicing activators and repressors that promote or reduce the use of particular sites respectively, as well as new types being discovered.
Q: How does abnormal variation in alternative splicing affect health?
A: Abnormal variations in alternative splicing can lead to genetic disorders and contribute to cancer development. Non-working products resulting from this process are usually dealt with by post-transcriptional quality control, where they get chopped up by enzymes.
Q: What kind of proteins can be created through alternative splicing?
A: Through alternative splicing, a single gene may code for multiple proteins which increases the diversity of proteins that can be encoded by the genome.
Q: What happens if non-working products result from alternate Spliceing?
A: If non-working products result from alternate Spliceing then they will usually be dealt with by post-transcriptional quality control, where they get chopped up by enzymes.
