Research Progress of Alternative Splicing and Its Application in Livestock and Poultry Breeding

Alternative splicing(AS) refers to the process of selective splicing across exons or splice junctions during individual development or cell differentiation to produce tissue-or development-stage specific mRNA. Through AS process, organisms can produce many different protein isomers from a single gene and finally increase the proteome diversity. Therefore, AS plays an important role in the regulation of animal growth, development and physiological metabolism. This article not only summarized the types and the detection methods of alternative splicing, but also highlighted its impact on various economic traits of livestock and poultry, and prospected its application prospects in livestock and poultry breeding. This article could provide new ideas for the improvement of livestock and poultry breeding.