在高等真核生物基因组转录过程中,一次剪接可完成短内含子的去除,而较长内含子(>10 kb)则需通过多次剪接方可去除。多次剪接去除长内含子的过程通常被称为递归性剪接。已有研究表明,递归性剪接事件与诸多生物学过程及疾病的发生发展有着密切的联系。近年来,关于递归性剪接的研究越来越多,研究者已经在果蝇(Drosophila)和多种脊椎动物基因组转录过程中发现了递归剪接事件,通过不同的生物信息学方法找到了多个递归剪接位点并进行了实验验证。目前国际上对递归性剪接的研究主要集中在递归剪接过程、剪接位点识别及其对生物学过程的影响等方面。本文针对真核生物基因组转录过程中递归剪接事件的分子机制和国内外研究现状进行了综述,旨在为深入理解RNA剪接过程分子机制提供参考。

Recursive splicing refers to the biological process that long introns are removed in multiple steps during pre-mRNA splicing. In comparison to large introns (>10 kb), most introns in higher eukaryotic genomes are removed in one step during transcription. Previous studies have revealed that recursive splicing events play important roles in many biological processes, including the pathogenesis and development of diseases. In recent years, more researchers have focused on recursive splicing events and found that recursive splicing occurs in Drosophila and many other vertebrates. Multiple recursive splicing sites have been predicted by different bioinformatics methods and verified by experiments. Current researches focus on the process of recursive splicing, recursive splicing site recognition and its influence on biological processes. In this review, we summarize the molecular mechanism of recursive splicing events in eukaryotic genomes and the present development in this field, aiming to lay the basis for further understanding of the mechanisms of RNA splicing.