DISSERTATION RESEARCH: RNA-Seq analysis of nascent RNA to provide insights into the mechanisms behind genomic loss of introns.

基因为蛋白质提供遗传密码，蛋白质是细胞和有机体的基石。大多数真核基因包含一个或多个非编码区，称为内含子。在对基因进行解码以构建蛋白质的细胞过程中，内含子通常被移除(拼接)。基因中的一些内含子位置在植物和动物等不同物种中都保留了下来，可能是因为它们在功能上很重要。在不同的进化谱系中，其他内含子已经独立地从基因中丢失，这可能是内含子的丢失为生物体提供了一些选择优势。了解导致植物内含子丢失的机制是很重要的。这项拟议的研究旨在调查在细胞过程中更有效地拼接的内含子最终是否有更高的机会从基因组中丢失。大规模的RNA测序基本上提供了在细胞处理的不同阶段表达的所有基因的蓝图，将为每个基因提供关于内含子剪接相对速度的信息。将进行统计分析，以确定剪接率是否与基因组内含子丢失的模式相关。有些内含子，通过它们的内容、大小或位置可以调节基因的表达，因此在功能上是重要的。基因组内含子的丢失可能导致表达的改变，这可能为物种适应新环境提供所需的可塑性。了解导致内含子丢失的机制将有助于理解物种进化。

Genes provide the genetic code for proteins which are the building blocks of cells and organisms. Most eukaryotic genes contain one or more non-coding regions, called introns. Introns are typically removed (spliced out) during the cellular processes that decode genes to build proteins. Some intron positions in genes have been retained in species as diverse as plants and animals, possibly because they are functionally important. Other introns have been lost from genes independently in different evolutionary lineages, and it may be that the intron loss provided some selective advantage to the organism. It is important to understand the mechanisms that lead to intron loss in plants. The proposed research aims to investigate whether introns that are spliced out more efficiently during cellular processes have a higher chance of ultimately being lost from the genome. Large-scale sequencing of RNA, which essentially provides a blue print of all genes that are expressed, during different stages of cellular processing, will yield information for each gene on the relative rate with which the introns are spliced out. Statistical analyses will be carried out to determine whether splicing rates are correlated with patterns of genomic intron loss. Some introns, either by their content, their size or their location can regulate gene expression and hence are functionally important. Genomic loss of introns may lead to altered expression, which may provide the plasticity needed for species to adapt to new environments. Knowledge of the mechanisms that lead to intron loss will help to understand species evolution.