Recent observations indicate that alternative splicing is a common way for eukaryotes to expand their repertoire of gene functions. Studies indicate that approximately 50 percent of human genes exhibit alternative splicing and approximately 15 percent of disease-causing mutations involve aberrant alternative splicing. Different tissues show remarkably different frequencies of alternative splicing, with the brain accounting for approximately 18 percent of such events (Xu et al., 2002. Nuc. Acids Res. 30: 3754–3766).
(a) Define alternative splicing and speculate on the evolutionary strategy alternative splicing offers to organisms.
(b) Why might some tissues engage in more alternative splicing than others?
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