Regulation of tissue-specifi c alternative splicing: C. elegans as a model system

Abstract

Alternative pre-mRNA splicing serves as an elegant mechanism for generating transcriptomic and proteomic diversity between cell and tissue types. In this chapter, we highlight key concepts and outstanding goals in studies of tissue and cell-specific alternative splicing. We place particular emphasis on the use of C. elegans as a tractable model organism for in vivo studies of alternative splicing between tissues and also at single cell resolution. We describe our current understanding of tissue and cell-specific regulation in the animal, and emerging techniques that will allow for future mechanistic studies as well as systems level investigations of spatio-temporal splicing under laboratory conditions and in response to environmental stimuli.