A function is defined for ultraconserved elements (UCEs), extragenic regions of eukaryotic genomes can show high degrees of conservation across species. It is also found that when alternative splicing (mediated by splicing regulator proteins) leads to UCE incorporation into the splicing regulator protein's mRNA, the mRNA is targeted for degradation. Thus, the UCEs help promote negative feedback regulation of the splicing regulator gene expression.
- Liana F. Lareau
- Maki Inada
- Steven E. Brenner
