A major goal of evolutionary genetics is to understand the genetic processes that give rise to phenotypic diversity in multicellular organisms. Alternative splicing generates multiple transcripts from a single gene, enriching the diversity of proteins and phenotypic traits. It is well established that alternative splicing contributes to key innovations over long evolutionary timescales, such as brain development in bilaterians. However, recent developments in long-read sequencing and the generation of high-quality genome assemblies for diverse organisms has facilitated comparisons of splicing profiles between closely related species, providing insights into how alternative splicing evolves over shorter timescales. Although most splicing variants are probably non-functional, alternative splicing is nonetheless emerging as a dynamic, evolutionarily labile process that can facilitate adaptation and contribute to species divergence.

进化遗传学的一个主要目标是了解导致多细胞生物表型多样性的遗传过程。选择性剪接从单个基因产生多个转录本，丰富了蛋白质和表型特征的多样性。众所周知，选择性剪接有助于长期进化时间尺度上的关键创新，例如双侧动物的大脑发育。然而，长读长测序的最新发展和为不同生物体生成高质量基因组装配体促进了密切相关物种之间剪接谱的比较，为了解选择性剪接如何在更短的时间尺度内进化提供了见解。尽管大多数剪接变体可能是无功能的，但选择性剪接仍然是一种动态的，