Evaluation of adaptive significance of alternative splicing by phylogenetic conservation

遗传信息以DNA的形式存储在细胞中，细胞不能直接访问。相反，DNA信息在被用来指导细胞功能之前，要经历广泛的、多步骤的处理。这些过程之一，mRNA的选择性剪接，不仅传递遗传信息，而且通过从同一基因产生多个选择性遗传信息来增强遗传信息。细胞扩展了大量的资源来生成这些替代消息。虽然其中一些对于细胞的正常运作和发育至关重要，但其他一些的重要性却存在很大争议，因为它们在细胞中的功能尚不清楚。 它们是细胞所能容忍的错误，还是代表了一种未知的遗传信息或一种新的调控过程？ 在这项研究中，我们将试图评估替代信息的意义，通过比较它们的生产在各种包括哺乳动物，鸟类，鱼类和两栖动物。我们的指导原则是，如果替代信息在功能上是重要的，那么我们将能够追踪它们的进化发展，并发现它们在我们将要研究的各种动物中的作用的证据。

Genetic information is stored in the cell in the form of DNA, which the cell cannot access directly. Instead, DNA information undergoes extensive, multistep processing before it can be acted upon to direct cellular functions. One of these processes, alternative mRNA splicing, not only transmits genetic information but also enhances it by generating multiple alternative genetic messages from the same gene. The cell expands considerable amount of resources to generate these alternative messages. While some are essential for the proper functioning and development of the cell, the significance of others is subject of great debate since their function in the cell is unclear. Are they errors tolerated by the cell or do they represent an as yet unknown type of genetic information or a novel regulatory process? In this study we will attempt to evaluate the significance of alternative messages by comparing their production in a variety of including mammals, birds, fish, and amphibians. Our guiding principle is that if alternative messages are functionally important then we will be able to trace their evolutionary development and uncover evidence of their role in the various animals we will investigate.