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Updated: Aug 22, 2026

Using the E1A Minigene Tool to Study mRNA Splicing Changes
Published on: April 22, 2021
Over-representation of exonic splicing enhancers in human intronless genes suggests multiple functions in mRNA
Uberto Pozzoli1, Laura Riva, Giorgia Menozzi
1Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Associazione La Nostra Famiglia, 23842 Bosisio Parini (LC), Italy. upozzoli@bp.lnf.it
Abstract:
The human transcriptome is constituted of a great majority of intron-containing and a minority of intron-lacking mRNAs; given the different processing these transcripts undergo, they are expected to carry, intermingled with coding properties, very different editing information. Here we applied a computational approach to compare intronless and intron-containing coding sequences. Hexamer composition comparison allowed the definition of over- and under-represented motifs in intronless genes; surprisingly, experimental testing revealed that intron-lacking coding sequences are enriched rather than depleted in elements with splicing enhancement ability. Similarly, we show evidence that intronless transcripts display a significantly higher frequency of both shuttling and non-shuttling SR protein binding sites compared to intron-containing sequences. These observations suggest that SR proteins (and possibly other splicing factors) play a role in cellular processes distinct from splicing.
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