Explanation of "differential transcript usage" (DTU)

No, it is a completely different thing, which has to do with splicing and alternative splicing.

I refer you to some genetics text for details on splicing and alternative splicing, but I will give here a very brief and incomplete explanation fo what they are and how they fint into DTU.

Genes are composed of introns and exons. Exons are the only parts of genes that are usually composing the mature transcript (intron retention is possible, but we are not interested in that). Splicing is the mechanism by which in a eukaryotic gene, introns are removed, and the mature transcript is assembled only using exons. During splicing, not all exons are necessarily retained. Imagine a gene with exons 1, 2 and 3. It is possible that the main form (called isoform) is the one consisting of exons 1, 2 and 3. Let's call that Isoform 1. However, due to a phenomenon called alternative splicing, other isoforms, can be generated, for example one isoform composed by exons 1 and 3. Let's call that Isoform 2. On average, we may imagin that the abundance of Isoform 1 compared to Isoform 2 is rather constant. However, some treatments or some changes in environmental stimuli, can give rise to a Differential Transcript Usage by which the relative abundance of the two isoforms changes.