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Title

 

 

 

 

Alternative splicing:  a paradoxical qudo in eukaryotic genomes

Authors

Luv Kashyap1 and Ravi Kumar Sharma2, *

 

Affiliation

1Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India, 2Botany Division, Central Drug Research Institute, M G Marg, Lucknow

 

Email

rkscdri@gmail.com; * Corresponding author

 

Article Type

Views & Challenges

 

Date

received December 03, 2007; revised December 08, 2007; accepted December 11, 2007; published online December 12, 2007

 

Abstract

One of the most remarkable observations stemming from the sequencing of genomes of diverse species is that the number of protein-coding genes in an organism does not correlate with its overall cellular complexity. Alternative splicing, a key mechanism for generating protein complexity, has been suggested as one of the major explanation for this discrepancy between the number of genes and genome complexity. Determining the extent and importance of alternative splicing required the confluence of critical advances in data acquisition, improved understanding of biological processes and the development of fast and accurate computational analysis tools. Although many model organisms have now been completely sequenced, we are still very far from understanding the exact frequency of alternative splicing from these sequenced genomes.This paper will highlight some recent progress and future challenges for functional genomics and bioinformatics in this rapidly developing area.

 

Keywords

alternative splicing; protein; genes; cellular complexity

Citation

Kashyap & Sharma, Bioinformation 2(4): 155-156 (2007)

 

Edited by

P. Kangueane

 

ISSN

0973-2063

 

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

 

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.