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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.02.22.432358

ExOrthist: a tool to infer exon orthologies at any evolutionary distance

Marquez, Y.·Mantica, F.·Cozzuto, L.·Burguera, D.·Hermoso-Pulido, A.·Ponomarenko, J.·Roy, S. W.·Irimia, M.
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Abstract

Several bioinformatic tools have been developed for genome-wide identification of orthologous and paralogous genes among species. However, no existing tool allows the detection of orthologous/paralogous exons. Here, we present ExOrthist, a fully reproducible Nextflow-based software enabling to (i) infer exon homologs and orthogroups, (ii) visualize evolution of exon-intron structures, and (iii) assess conservation of alternative splicing patterns. ExOrthist not only evaluates exon sequence conservation but also considers the surrounding exon-intron context to derive genome-wide multi-species exon homologies at any evolutionary distance. We demonstrate its use in various evolutionary scenarios, from whole genome duplication to convergence of alternative splicing networks.

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Marquez, Y., Mantica, F., Cozzuto, L., Burguera, D., Hermoso-Pulido, A., Ponomarenko, J., Roy, S. W., Irimia, M.. 2021-02-25. ExOrthist: a tool to infer exon orthologies at any evolutionary distance. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.22.432358

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