关于内含子的起源和进化有内含子早现(introns-early)和内含子晚现(introns-late)两种假说。内含子早现理论认为内含子是基因原来就有的结构；内含子晚现理论认为内含子是在进化过程中插入基因中的。除了提供多种剪切方式外，内含子中还有多种顺式作用元件参与转录调控，对酵母基因内含子转录调控功能的统计分析显示酵母基因上游与内含子之间可能存在的一些转录协同作用模式。 There are two opposing theories about intron originated and evolved. The introns-early theory believed that introns had already existed at the beginning of life. However, the introns-late theory believed that the introns were inserted into genes during the course of evolution. Some cis-elements in introns play a key role in transcriptional regulatory. The statistical analysis of transcriptional regulatory function showed that there are some potential patterns of transcriptional synergy between 5’-UTR and introns.