Briefings in Functional Genomics and Proteomics Advance Access originally published online on March 11, 2009
Briefings in Functional Genomics and Proteomics 2009 8(1):60-67; doi:10.1093/bfgp/elp002
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The quest for a message: budding yeast, a model organism to study the control of pre-mRNA splicing
Corresponding author. Josep Vilardell, Gene Regulation Program, Centre de Regulació Genòmica, Dr Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. Tel: +34-93-316-0116, Fax: +34-93-316-0099, E-mail: josep.vilardell{at}crg.es
Removal of introns during pre-mRNA splicing is a critical process in gene expression, and understanding its control at both single-gene and genomic levels is one of the great challenges in Biology. Splicing takes place in a dynamic, large ribonucleoprotein complex known as the spliceosome. Combining Genetics and Biochemistry, Saccharomyces cerevisiae provides insights into its mechanisms, including its regulation by RNA–protein interactions. Recent genome-wide analyses indicate that regulated splicing is broad and biologically relevant even in organisms with a relatively simple intronic structure, such as yeast. Furthermore, the possibility of coordination in splicing regulation at genomic level is becoming clear in this model organism. This should provide a valuable system to approach the complex problem of the role of regulated splicing in genomic expression.
Keywords: regulated splicing, RNA, yeast, genomics, microarrays