Alternative splicing is a regulated process during
gene expression that results in a single
gene coding for multiple
proteins. In this process, particular
exons of a gene may be included within or excluded from the final, processed
messenger RNA (mRNA) produced from that gene. Consequently the proteins
translated from alternatively spliced mRNAs will contain differences in their amino acid sequence and, often, in their biological functions (see Figure). Notably, alternative splicing allows the
human genome to direct the synthesis of many more proteins than would be expected from its 20,000 protein-coding genes. Alternative splicing is sometimes termed
differential splicing.