Entropic contributions to the splicing process

TL;DR

This paper explores how entropic effects and depletion attraction influence the splicing process in eukaryotic cells, explaining intron length variability and aspects of genome architecture through a physical model.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of entropy and depletion attraction concepts to understand splicing mechanisms and genome organization in higher eukaryotes.

Findings

Entropy effects can influence splice-site recognition.

Intron length variability may be explained by depletion attraction.

Genome architecture features can be modeled through physical principles.

Abstract

It has been recently argued that the depletion attraction may play an important role in different aspects of the cellular organization, ranging from the organization of transcriptional activity in transcription factories to the formation of the nuclear bodies. In this paper we suggest a new application of these ideas in the context of the splicing process, a crucial step of messanger RNA maturation in Eukaryotes. We shall show that entropy effects and the resulting depletion attraction may explain the relevance of the aspecific intron length variable in the choice of the splice-site recognition modality. On top of that, some qualitative features of the genome architecture of higher Eukaryotes can find an evolutionary realistic motivation in the light of our model.