From the set of genes with at least 20 human liver-derived ESTs, this analysis identified a total of 114 genes with alternative 5' splice site and/or 3' splice site usage in the liver. Those genes in this set that were named, annotated and for which the consensus sequences of the alternative splice sites were conserved in the orthologous mouse gene (see Materials and methods) are listed in Table 1. Of course, conservation of splice sites alone is necessary, but not sufficient by itself, to imply conservation of the AS event in the mouse. Many essential liver metabolic and detoxifying enzyme-coding genes appear on this list, including enzymes involved in sugar metabolism (for example, ALDOB, IDH1), protein and amino acid metabolism (for example, BHMT, CBP2, TDO2, PAH, GATM), detoxification or breakdown of drugs and toxins (for example, GSTA3, CYP3A4, CYP2C8).
