CRA - Cereal Research Centre - SS 16 km675, 71122 Foggia, Italy.
Plant Sci. 2012 Apr;185-186:40-9. doi: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2011.09.006. Epub 2011 Sep 28.
Alternative splicing is a mechanism for the regulation of gene expression that is widespread in higher eukaryotes. Genome-wide approaches, based on comparison of expressed and genomic sequences, on tiling arrays, and on next-generation sequencing, have provided growing knowledge of the extent, distribution and association of alternative splicing with stress-related genes in plants. The functional meaning of alternative splicing in response to stress has been defined for many genes, and in particular for those involved in the regulation of the stress responses, such as protein kinases, transcription factors, splicing regulators and pathogen-resistance genes. The production of proteins with diverse domain rearrangements from the same gene is the main alternative splicing mechanism for pathogen-resistance genes. The plant response to abiotic stress is also characterized by a second mechanism, which consists of the expression of alternative transcripts that are targeted to nonsense-mediated decay. These quantitatively regulate stress-related gene expression. Many alternative splicing events are well conserved among plant species, and also across kingdoms, especially those observed in response to stress, for genes encoding splicing regulators, and other classes of RNA-binding proteins. Nevertheless, non-conserved events indicate that alternative splicing represents an evolutionary strategy that rapidly increases genome plasticity and develops new gene functions, along with other mechanisms such as gene duplication. Finally, the study of the naturally occurring variability of alternative splicing and the identification of genomic regions involved in the regulation of alternative splicing in crops are proposed as strategies for selecting genotypes with superior performance under adverse environmental conditions.
可变剪接是一种广泛存在于高等真核生物中的基因表达调控机制。基于表达序列和基因组序列比较、平铺式微阵列和新一代测序的全基因组方法，为我们提供了越来越多的关于植物中可变剪接与应激相关基因的程度、分布和关联的知识。许多基因的可变剪接在应激反应中的功能意义已经得到了定义，特别是那些参与调节应激反应的基因，如蛋白激酶、转录因子、剪接调控因子和抗病基因。从同一个基因产生具有不同结构域重排的蛋白质是抗病基因主要的可变剪接机制。植物对非生物胁迫的反应也具有第二种机制，即表达靶向无义介导的降解的可变转录本。这些转录本定量调节与应激相关的基因表达。许多可变剪接事件在植物物种之间以及跨界之间都得到了很好的保守，特别是那些在应激反应中观察到的基因，如剪接调控因子和其他种类的 RNA 结合蛋白。然而，非保守事件表明可变剪接代表了一种进化策略，它可以快速增加基因组的可塑性和开发新的基因功能，以及其他机制，如基因复制。最后，提出研究可变剪接的自然变异和鉴定参与调节作物可变剪接的基因组区域的策略，以选择在不利环境条件下具有优异性能的基因型。
