OBM Genetics

(ISSN 2577-5790)

OBM Genetics is an international Open Access journal published quarterly online by LIDSEN Publishing Inc. It accepts papers addressing basic and medical aspects of genetics and epigenetics and also ethical, legal and social issues. Coverage includes clinical, developmental, diagnostic, evolutionary, genomic, mitochondrial, molecular, oncological, population and reproductive aspects. It publishes research articles, reviews, communications and technical notes, etc. There is no restriction on the length of the papers and we encourage scientists to publish their results in as much detail as possible.

Archiving: full-text archived in CLOCKSS.

Publication Speed (median values for papers published in 2022): Submission to First Decision: 4 weeks; Submission to Acceptance: 12 weeks; Acceptance to Publication: 13 days (1-2 days of FREE language polishing included)

Current Issue: 2023  Archive: 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017

Special Issue

Alternative Splicing: A Key Process in Development and Disease

Submission Deadline: December 31, 2020 (Open) Submit Now

Guest Editor

Michael R. Ladomery, PhD

Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol; Frenchay Campus,
Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK

Website | E-Mail

Research Interests: RNA biology; alternative splicing; noncoding RNA; RNA-based cancer therapies

About this topic

Soon after the discovery of pre-mRNA splicing in the late 1970s it became apparent that transcripts can be ‘alternatively spliced’ across eukaryotes. The main modes of alternative splicing are cassette exons that can be skipped; alternative splice sites that change the boundaries of exons; mutually exclusive exons; and retained introns. It is thought that over 94% of multi-exonic genes are alternatively spliced in humans. Alternative splicing is affected by regulatory sequences present within exons and introns. These are recognised by a multitude of splice factors that regulate splicing machinery access. Alternative splicing means that genes can express proteins with strikingly different characteristics. These can even have antagonistic properties (for example pro- or anti-apoptotic splice isoforms). It is then not surprising to find that alternative splicing plays a key role in development and that mutations that disrupt alternative splicing contribute to disease. Alternative splicing research provides enormous opportunities to understand fundamental biological processes; it also presents a new context in which to develop novel therapies.

Publication

Open Access Review

Translating RNA Splicing Analysis into Diagnosis and Therapy

Received: 31 December 2020;  Published: 08 March 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2101125

Abstract

A large proportion of rare disease patients remain undiagnosed and the vast majority of such conditions remain untreatable whether diagnosed or not. RNA splicing analysis is able to increase the diagnostic rate in rare disease by identifying cryptic splicing mutations and can help in interpreting the pathogenicity of genomic variants. Whilst [...]
Open Access Original Research

H-Ras Pre-mRNA Contains A Regulatory Non-coding RNA

Received: 25 June 2020;  Published: 16 November 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2004118

Abstract

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have emerged as one of the most abundant regulatory molecules. However, their roles and functions are significantly different from those of proteins. Moreover, around 95% of the human genome contains non-coding DNA. ncRNAs contribute by far the majority of human transcriptional units, and the functions of the most [...]
Open Access Review

Splicing HAC1/XBP1 mRNAs in Cytoplasm: The Non-Conventional mRNA Splicing Reaction in the Unfolded Protein Response

Received: 23 March 2020;  Published: 22 May 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2002110

Abstract

The majority of the secretory and transmembrane proteins are folded in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). When unfolded proteins accumulate in the ER, a collective of signalling pathways, termed the unfolded protein response (UPR), are activated to restore the ER protein folding homeostasis. The most evolutionarily conserved branch of UPR is [...]
Open Access Case Report

Knight in Splicing Armor: Alternative Splicing as a Neuroprotective Mechanism

Received: 13 January 2020;  Published: 20 March 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2001106

Abstract

By adjusting gene expression in response to environmental changes, cells can optimize fitness as needed. Alternative splicing is one of the most important post-transcriptional regulation steps, broadly involved in diverse physiological and pathological conditions. Here, we present 5 cases of alternative splicing conferring increase [...]
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