DEXSeq

"DEXSeq" is a software tool designed to analyze alternative exon usage, a phenomenon contributing to the plasticity of genomes in producing diverse transcripts from the same gene. The tool focuses on 1:1 orthologous exons across six primate species and investigates the extent of conservation in tissue-dependent exon usage. The results suggest two major modes: weak differences dominated by interspecies variability, reflecting neutral drift and noisy splicing, and a minority of exons showing substantial, conserved tissue-dependent differences. The tool identifies a core set of 3,800 exons enriched for protein-disordered regions and untranslated regions, emphasizing the evolutionary importance of isoform regulation in primates.