RNA Splicing is a biological reaction in which introns are removed from a transcribed RNA to create mRNA. This process occurs in conjunction with the transcription of DNA to mRNA.

The theory that RNA splicing occurs was only suggested recently. Before 1977, scientists were not aware that eukaryote genes were dramatically different than prokaryotes. However, it was known that eukaryotes had significantly more DNA than prokaryotes. This difference, called the C-value paradox, led to the discovery that eukaryotes had interrupted genes. These are genes containing exons and introns; nucleotide sequences that are both coding and non-coding. Evidence for RNA splicing was obtained when nuclear RNA was compared to mRNA. It was found that nuclear RNA was much longer than mRNA suggesting mRNA was further processed before being transported to the cytoplasm.

RNA splicing is one step in the overall process in which the genetic code is transcribed...