Analysis of Genes with Alternatively Spliced Transcripts in the Leaf, Root, Panicle and Seed of Rice Using a Long Oligomer Microarray and RNA-Seq

Pre-mRNA splicing further increases protein diversity acquired through evolution. The underlying driving forces for this phenomenon are unknown, especially in terms of gene expression. A rice alternatively spliced transcript detection microarray (ASDM) and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) were applied to differentiate the transcriptome of 4 representative organs of Oryza sativa L. cv. Ilmi: leaves, roots, 1-cm-stage panicles and young seeds at 21 days after pollination. Comparison of data obtained by microarray and RNA-Seq showed a bell-shaped distribution and a co-lineation for highly expressed genes. Transcripts were classified according to the degree of organ enrichment using a coefficient value (CV, the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean values): highly variable (CVI), variable (CVII), and constitutive (CVIII) groups. A higher index of the portion of loci with alternatively spliced transcripts in a group (IAST) value was observed for the constitutive group. Genes of the highly variable group showed the characteristics of the examined organs, and alternatively spliced transcripts tended to exhibit the same organ specificity or less organ preferences, with avoidance of ‘organ distinctness’. In addition, within a locus, a tendency of higher expression was found for transcripts with a longer coding sequence (CDS), and a spliced intron was the most commonly found type of alternative splicing for an extended CDS. Thus, pre-mRNA splicing might have evolved to retain maximum functionality in terms of organ preference and multiplicity.