Alternative-Splicing Database Launched in Europe

A major European initiative in the post-genomics field highlights the importance of alternative RNA splicing, the mechanism that enables the cell to generate several distinct proteins from a single gene. Called the Alternative Splicing Database (ASD), the initiative aims to build a unique human database of all the alternatively spliced genes to develop new diagnostic tools for major diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, and infertility.

The ASD brings together seven members from Germany, Spain, France, Israel, and the UK with complementary expertise and know-how. The consortium includes biologists involved in data collection and chip optimization and design as well as computer scientists working on data mining and user-friendly data interfaces. The ASD will run for three years. As part of the project, the data on alternative exons from human, mouse, drosophila, and rat that have already been published in peer-reviewed journals will be collected and integrated into a computer database that can be accessed by researchers and doctors. In addition, the ASD consortium will develop DNA microarrays that contain cDNAs of all the splicing regulatory proteins and their isoforms, as well as chips that incoporate a number of disease-relevant genomic signatures for cancer, neurodegeneration, and infertility. These chips will then be used to test an individual's predisposition and to diagnose these diseases.

"Not only will the ASD project allow us to investigate alternatively spliced variants associated with human diseases, but it will also enable study of the pathologic changes of factors regulating alternative splicing,” said ASD coordinator Dr. Stefan Stamm, of the Institute of Biochemistry, University Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). "This is of great importance in order to maximize the value of the large scientific initiatives such as the human genome and proteome projects.”




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U. of Erlangen-Nuremberg