Alternative exon combination can lead to different proteins
The
primary hnRNA transcript includes both exon-
& intron-equvialent sequences. The exon-equivalents
(numbered) may correspond to functional regions of the
protein, for example, DNA-binding regions or dehydrogenase
activity. By removing one or more exon-equivalent regions
along with the intron-equivalents, different proteins with
different functions can be produced.
Alternative splicing may explain why genomes can get along with far fewer protein-coding regions than expected.
Alternative splicing may explain why genomes can get along with far fewer protein-coding regions than expected.
Figure © 2012 TA Brown, Introduction
to Genetics (1st ed.); additional
text © 2014 by Steven M. Carr