Alternative Splicing in the Postgenomic Era is the first book that is solely dedicated to the topic of alternative splicing. The book contains chapters by experts in the field that cover nearly all aspects of alternative splicing. The purpose of this book is to provide a single, authoritative source of information on alternative splicing that is accessible to researchers in diverse fields. The book contains information that will familiarize readers that have not previously encountered alternative splicing, but also contains sufficient depth to provide new information to experts in the field.

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