CGR

Abstract

RNA sequencing allows the measurement of gene expression levels at unprecedented resolution. We have sequenced mRNA from lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from 75 Nigerian individuals as part of the International HapMap Project. I will discuss two aspects of these data with regards to variation in mRNA processing. First, I will describe how we are identifying genetic variants which cause variation in mRNA splicing across individuals. Second, I will show that splicing is an inherently noisy process within individuals, and that natural selection against this noise has influenced the sequence composition of genes.