The striking evolutionary conservation of ratchetting points suggests that recursive splicing provides specific advantages for large introns, ... One possibility is that recursive splicing prevents the generation of long RNA transcripts that could form structures that interfere with correct processing into mRNA. Another is that recursive splicing might help stimulate transcription through long introns by promoting interactions between the splicing and transcription machineries. We also know already that recursive splicing is used to control the removal of certain exons from mRNAs, generating structural and functional variation among the gene products.

Javier Lopez