Dwivedi, S.L.; Quiroz, L.F.; Reddy, A.S.N.; Spillane, C.; Ortiz, R. Alternative Splicing Variation: Accessing and Exploiting in Crop Improvement Programs. Int. J. Mol. Sci.2023, 24, 15205.
Dwivedi, S.L.; Quiroz, L.F.; Reddy, A.S.N.; Spillane, C.; Ortiz, R. Alternative Splicing Variation: Accessing and Exploiting in Crop Improvement Programs. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 15205.
Dwivedi, S.L.; Quiroz, L.F.; Reddy, A.S.N.; Spillane, C.; Ortiz, R. Alternative Splicing Variation: Accessing and Exploiting in Crop Improvement Programs. Int. J. Mol. Sci.2023, 24, 15205.
Dwivedi, S.L.; Quiroz, L.F.; Reddy, A.S.N.; Spillane, C.; Ortiz, R. Alternative Splicing Variation: Accessing and Exploiting in Crop Improvement Programs. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 15205.
Abstract
Alternative splicing (AS) is a gene regulatory mechanism modulating gene expression in multiple ways. AS is prevalent in all eukaryotes including plants. AS generates two or more mRNAs from the precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) to regulate transcriptome complexity and proteome diversity. Advances in next-generation sequencing, omics technology and bioinformatics tools, and computational methods provide new opportunities to quantify and visualize AS-based quantitative trait variation associated with plant growth, development, reproduction, and stress tolerance. Domestication, polyploidization and environmental perturbation may evolve novel splicing variants associated with agronomically beneficial traits. To date, pre-mRNAs from many genes are spliced into multiple transcripts that cause phenotypic variation for complex traits, both in model plant Arabidopsis and field crops. Cataloguing and exploiting such variation may provide new paths to enhance climate resilience, resource-use efficiency, productivity, and nutritional quality of staple food crops. This review provides insights into AS variation alongside gene expression analysis to select for novel phenotypic diversity for use in breeding programs. AS contributes to heterosis, enhances plant symbiosis (mycorrhiza and rhizobium), and provides a mechanistic link between the core clock genes and diverse environmental clues.
Keywords
Alternative splicing; biological rhythms; domestication and polyploidization; gene mining; heterosis; nutrient homeostasis; plant phenology and architecture; symbiosis; transcriptome and proteome diversity
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Agricultural Science and Agronomy
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
