Identification of Common Genetic Variation That Modulates Alternative Splicing

Abstract

Alternative splicing of genes is an efficient means of generating variation in protein function. Several disease states have been associated with rare genetic variants that affect splicing patterns. Conversely, splicing efficiency of some genes is known to vary between individuals without apparent ill effects. What is not clear is whether commonly observed phenotypic variation in splicing patterns, and hence potential variation in protein function, is to a significant extent determined by naturally occurring DNA sequence variation and in particular by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In this study, we surveyed the splicing patterns of 250 exons in 22 individuals who had been previously genotyped by the International HapMap Project. We identified 70 simple cassette exon alternative splicing events in our experimental system; for six of these, we detected consistent differences in splicing pattern between individuals, with a highly significant association between splice phenotype and neighbouring SNPs. Remarkably, for five out of six of these events, the strongest correlation was found with the SNP closest to the intron–exon boundary, although the distance between these SNPs and the intron–exon boundary ranged from 2 bp to greater than 1,000 bp. Two of these SNPs were further investigated using a minigene splicing system, and in each case the SNPs were found to exert cis-acting effects on exon splicing efficiency in vitro. The functional consequences of these SNPs could not be predicted using bioinformatic algorithms. Our findings suggest that phenotypic variation in splicing patterns is determined by the presence of SNPs within flanking introns or exons. Effects on splicing may represent an important mechanism by which SNPs influence gene function. Genetic variation, through its effects on gene expression, influences many aspects of the human phenotype. Understanding the impact of genetic variation on human disease risk has become a major goal for biomedical research and has the potential of revealing both novel disease mechanisms and novel functional elements controlling gene expression. Recent large-scale studies have suggested that a relatively high proportion of human genes show allele-specific variation in expression. Effects of common DNA polymorphisms on mRNA splicing are less well studied. Variation in splicing patterns is known to be tissue specific, and for a small number of genes has been shown to vary among individuals. What is not known is whether allele-specific splicing events are an important mechanism by which common genetic variation affects gene expression. In this study we show that allele-specific alternative splicing was observed in six out of 70 exon-skipping events. Sequence analysis of the relevant splice sites and of the regions surrounding single nucleotide polymorphisms correlated with the splicing events failed to identify any predictive bioinformatic signals. A genome-wide study of allele-specific splicing, using an experimental rather than a bioinformatic approach, is now required.