A special group of RNA elements in splicing control

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Alternative splicing is an common step in the control of gene expression in higher animal species, determining the number of proteins and their variations to be produced and playing critical roles in almost every aspect of animal life from cell growth/death, differentiation to development and physiology; however, the molecular bases of the many control elements at various RNA locations and their differences among species during evolution are still not clear. Our past work and current data identified a group of elements at an unusual location that, for the splicing machinery to function optimally, often does not have such regulatory elements. We hypothesize that this specially localized group of RNA elements are common in the genome to control splicing. In this proposal, we will use two of such elements "G tract" and "A-rich element" to test the hypothesis, using mutagenesis combined with RNA splicing assays as we have done previously. Answers to this question will provide a molecular basis for the function of this group of specially localized RNA elements, insights into their evolutionary evolvement and improve the prediction of RNA elements/alternative exons in the genomes in general.