Friday, September 23, 2005
Alternative Splicing
One hot topic today in biochemistry is alternative splicing. When mRNA is coded from DNA, several portions are snipped out of it (these are called "introns") while the rest is kept (these parts are called "exons"). Alternative Splicing means that in some genes, the parts which are exons and the parts which are introns may vary -- meaning that one gene can code for multiple protein products. Some interesting research on this is in the paper Diversification of stem cell molecular repertoire by alternative splicing, which indicates that such splicing occurs much more often than previously thought. It also shows that the major part of the alternatively-spliced genes are those which code for proteins that operate in the specific tissue function of differentiated cells, but not often for the basic building blocks of cells. So, when stem cells differentiate, they often use different intron/exon splice points for genes relevant to their differentiated function than other cells would.
Anyway, while this is secular research (I assume), it does point out how fearfully and wonderfully made we are! This is probably biochemically similar to what computer scientists would call higher-order functions.
More info on alternative splicing can be found here.
Anyway, while this is secular research (I assume), it does point out how fearfully and wonderfully made we are! This is probably biochemically similar to what computer scientists would call higher-order functions.
More info on alternative splicing can be found here.
Permanent Link posted by crevo @ 7:51 PM 
