Summary

Our group is interested in understanding the roles that alternative splicing plays in vertebrate embryonic development, and how novel transcript variants have contributed to shape our unique development and body plan during evolution.

Alternative splicing – the differential processing of introns and exons – is the most widespread contributor to vertebrate transcriptomic diversity, impacting more than 95% of human multiexonic genes. However, the role of alternative splicing in vertebrate development and its contribution to evolution is largely unknown.

One of the most striking examples of alternative splicing is provided by microexons, which we have recently reported. These tiny exons, which can encode as little as one or two aminoacids, are switched on during neuronal differentiation and show unmatched evolutionary conservation. They are often located in structured domains of proteins, where they subtly sculpt their interaction surfaces thereby modulating protein-protein interactions. Although we are only beginning to unveil their biological functions, we already know they crucial for proper neuritogenesis, axon guidance, and neuronal function.

Our lab thus combines computational and experimental approaches using in vivo systems (zebrafish and mouse) to investigate the roles of microexons and other types of alternative splicing in embryonic development and evolution.

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Figure 1

Research projects

  • Functional and evolutionary impact of neural-specific exons and microexons in vertebrates
  • Regulation of early embryo development and pluripotency through alternative splicing
  • Assembly and evolution of tissue-specific exon networks
  • Amphioxus functional genomics and transcriptomics (AmphiENCODE)
  • Software and resources on alternative splicing: vast-tools and VAST-DB