Exon

An exon is a nucleic acid sequence that is represented in the mature form of an RNA molecule either after portions of a precursor RNA (introns) have been removed by cis-splicing or when two or more precursor RNA molecules have been ligated by trans-splicing. The mature RNA molecule can be a messenger RNA or a functional form of a non-coding RNA such as rRNA or tRNA. Depending on the context, exon can refer to the sequence in the DNA or its RNA transcript.

History

This definition was originally made for protein-coding transcripts that are spliced before being translated. The term later came to include sequences removed from rRNA and tRNA, and it also was used later for RNA molecules originating from different parts of the genome that are then ligated by trans-splicing.

Function

To the right is a diagram of a heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA), which is an unedited mRNA transcript, or pre-mRNAs. Exons can include both sequences that code for amino acids (red) and untranslated sequences (grey). Stretches of unused sequence called introns (blue) are removed, and the exons are joined together to form the final functional mRNA. The notation 5' and 3' refer to the direction of the DNA template in the chromosome and is used to distinguish between the two untranslated regions (grey).

Some of the exons will be wholly or part of the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) or the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) of each transcript. The untranslated regions are important for efficient translation of the transcript and for controlling the rate of translation and half-life of the transcript. Furthermore, transcripts made from the same gene may not have the same exon structure, since parts of the mRNA could be removed by the process of alternative splicing. Some mRNA transcripts have exons with no ORFs and, thus, are sometimes referred to as non-coding RNA.

Exonization is the creation of a new exon, as result of mutations in intronic sequences.

Polycistronic messages have multiple ORFs in one transcript and also have small regions of untranslated sequence between each ORF.

Experimental approaches that utilize exons

Splicing can be experimentally modified so that targeted exons are excluded from mature mRNA transcripts by blocking the access of splice-directing small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs) to pre-mRNA using Morpholino antisense oligos. This has become a standard technique in developmental biology. Morpholino oligos can also be targeted to prevent molecules that regulate splicing (e.g. splice enhancers, splice suppressors) from binding to pre-mRNA, altering patterns of splicing.

See also

References

General references

External links

Category:DNA Category:Spliceosome Category:RNA splicing