Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung mbH
Mascheroder Weg 1
D-38124 Braunschweig
Phone: +49-531-6181-428
Fax: +49-531-6181-266
1Email: ili@gbf.de
The precise removal of introns from pre-mRNA by splicing is an important step in the expression of genes. It requires the interaction of several proteins and small ribonucleoprotein particles, which all function in concert [Caudevilla et al., 2001].
Recent ratings assume that about 35% of all pre-mRNAs are spliced differentially [Brett et al., 2000], thus giving rise to two or more distinct mRNAs. These may in turn encode proteins that are specific for a particular developmental stage or tissue. Such cases indicate specific control mechanisms. So far, little is known how alternative splice sites are recognized and how temporal and tissue-dependent variations in splice site choice are mediated [Mistelli, 2000].
We try to elucidate the control of alternative splicing by compiling relevant data. Since none of the available databases which are devoted to (alternative) splicing considers the proteins involved in this process we have developed a new database called ReAlSplice. The database has been established under a relational database management system and the functional development is almost complete. It consists of five main tables and has pointers e.g. to primary sequence databases. The first data sets extracted from original publications have been entered and this work will be continued with high priority. ReAlSplice provides information about proteins involved in regulated splicing, information concerning individual splice sites and data about the participation of so called splicing enhancers/repressors in a specific splice event. For primary WWW access we shall compile a flat file version.
This work is supported by a grant of the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; Project-Nr. 01SF9988/4) in context of the HNB.