The SJD value can be generalized to compare splicing patterns between two sets of transcripts from a gene - for example, to compare the splicing patterns of the sets of ESTs derived from two different tissues. In this case, the SJD is defined by counting the number of splice junctions that differ between all pairs of transcripts (i, j), with transcript i coming from set 1 (for example, heart-derived ESTs), and transcript j coming from set 2 (for example, lung-derived ESTs), and dividing this number by the total number of splice junctions in all pairs of transcripts compared, again considering only those splice junctions that occur in regions of overlap between the transcript pairs considered. Note that this definition has the desirable property that pairs of transcripts that have larger numbers of overlapping splice junctions contribute more to the total than transcript pairs that overlap less. As an example of the splice junction difference between two sets of transcripts, consider the set S1, consisting of transcripts (1,2) from Figure 4, and set S2, consisting of transcripts (3,4) from Figure 4.
