Alternative Splicing in the Postgenomic Era

CONTENTS FOREWORD......................................................................................................... v PREFACE.............................................................................................................. ix ABOUT THE EDITOR S.................................................................................... xiii PARTICI PANTS.................................................................................................. xv 1. Nuclear Organization and Splicing Control..................... 1 Maria Carmo-Fonseca and Célia Carvalho Abstract................................................................................................................................. 1 Splicing and the Nucleus...................................................................................................... 1 Compartmentalization of Splicing and Splicing Factors.................................................. 3 Compartmentalization of Splicing Factors and Splicing Regulation............................... 8 Perspectives.......................................................................................................................... 9 2. Spliceosome Assembly and Composition............................... 14 Arianne J. Matlin and Melissa J. Moore Abstract............................................................................................................................... 14 Introduction........................................................................................................................ 14 Composition and Structure................................................................................................ 14 In Vitro Spliceosome Assembly.......................................................................................... 15 Product Release and snRNPRecycling............................................................................. 24 Interactions at the Ends of Transcripts That Promote Spliceosome Assembly................................................................................................ 24 The Holospliceosome Hypothesis...................................................................................... 24 Insights from In Vivo Analysis of Spliceosome Assembly............................................... 25 Commitment to Particular Splice Sites............................................................................. 26 Proofreading....................................................................................................................... 26 Final Comments.................................................................................................................. 28 3. Relating Alternative Splicing to Proteome Complexity and Genome Evolution.................................. 36 Yi Xing and Christopher Lee Abstract............................................................................................................................... 36 Alternative Splicing and Proteomic Complexity.............................................................. 36 Alternative Splicing of Protein Domains and Functional Sites...................................... 37 Alternative Splicing and Protein Structure...................................................................... 39 Alternative Splicing and Genome Evolution.................................................................... 40 Alternative Splicing and Amino Acid Mutation Selection Pressure............................... 43 Alternative Splicing and RNA Selection Pressure........................................................... 43 Connecting RNA Selection Pressure to Real Splicing