biostudies-literatureUnknown20(11)Song QMicro-exons are a kind of exons with lengths no more than 51 nucleotides. They are generally ignored in genome annotation due to the short length, whereas recent studies indicate that they have special splicing properties and important functions. Considering that there has been no genome-wide study of micro-exons in plants up to now, we screened and analyzed genes containing micro-exons in two <i>indica</i> rice varieties in this study. According to the annotation of Zhenshan 97 (ZS97) and Minghui 63 (MH63), ~23% of genes possess micro-exons. We then identified micro-exons from RNA-seq data and found that >65% micro-exons had been annotated and most of novel micro-exons were located in gene regions. About 60% micro-exons were constitutively spliced, and the others were alternatively spliceInternational journal of molecular sciencesE2685https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC6600660biostudies-literatureIdentification and Analysis of Micro-Exon Genes in the Rice Genome.PMC6600660Li HTahir Ul Qamar MLv FXing FSong QZhou RChen LLfalseIdentification and Analysis of Micro-Exon Genes in the Rice Genome.Micro-exons are a kind of exons with lengths no more than 51 nucleotides. They are generally ignored in genome annotation due to the short length, whereas recent studies indicate that they have special splicing properties and important functions. Considering that there has been no genome-wide study of micro-exons in plants up to now, we screened and analyzed genes containing micro-exons in two <i>indica</i> rice varieties in this study. According to the annotation of Zhenshan 97 (ZS97) and Minghui 63 (MH63), ~23% of genes possess micro-exons. We then identified micro-exons from RNA-seq data and found that >65% micro-exons had been annotated and most of novel micro-exons were located in gene regions. About 60% micro-exons were constitutively spliced, and the others were alternatively splice2019-01-01T00:00:00Z2019 May2026-05-01T04:53:22.029Z2019-07-25T07:00:57ZS-EPMC66006603115916610.3390/ijms20112685