New insights into RNA secondary structure in the alternative splicing of pre-mRNAs

Alternative splicing is an important mechanism in generating proteomic diversity, and RNA secondary structure is an important element in splicing regulation. The use of high-throughput sequencing and other approaches has increased the number of known pre-mRNA secondary structures by several orders of magnitude, we now have new insights into the role of RNA secondary structure in alternative splicing and the mechanisms involved (e.g., physical competition, long-range RNA pairing, the structural splicing code and co-transcriptional splicing). Furthermore, an RNA pairing-based mechanism ensures the selection of only one of several variable exons (e.g., Dscam splicing). Here we review several recent discoveries related to the role of RNA secondary structure in alternative splicing and the underlying mechanisms.