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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

A Simple Method to Analyze Context- and Tissue-Specific Cis-Regulatory Modulations of Homeotic (HOX) Genes Using ChIP.

Homeobox genes (HOX), the master regulators, deploy a unique set of target genes to coordinate and orchestrate the spatiotemporal development of an organism. HOX encoded transcriptional factors regulate the expression of target genes by binding to the specific sequences on the genome. Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and Chromatin Immunoprecipitation with Sequencing (ChIP-Seq) are widely used to map and understand specific gene locus and global regulatory regions on the genome. ChIP is a powerful technique of cross-linking the proteins bound to the DNA, fragmenting DNA to the desired size, and pulling them down using specific antibodies to enrich and analyze the protein-bound DNA. Based on the mapping information, a differential ChIP can be performed to understand cis-regulatory modulations at a defined locus by two developmental stages. This chapter describes the differential ChIP used to identify new targets by comparing two different developmental stages simultaneously using Drosophila melanogaster.

Animals↗

The glycine residue of ATP regulatory module in receptor guanylate cyclases that is essential in natriuretic factor signaling.

Atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP)-activated guanylate cyclases are single-chain transmembrane-spanning proteins, containing both ligand binding and catalytic activities. In both proteins, ligand binding to the extracellular receptor domain activates the cytosolic catalytic domain, generating the second messenger cyclic GMP. Obligatory in this activation process is an ATP-dependent step. ATP directly binds to a defined ATP-regulatory module (ARM) sequence motif in the cyclases and through ARM bridges the events of ligand binding and signal transduction. These ARM sequence motifs are respectively represented by Gly503-Xa-Gly505-Xa-Xa-Xa-Gly509 and Gly499-Xa-Xa-Xa-Gly503 in the case of ANF receptor guanylate cyclase (ANF-RGC) and CNP receptor guanylate cyclase (CNP-RGC). Through genetic remodeling techniques, we now show that ARM-Gly505 in ANF-RGC and the corresponding ARM-Gly499 in CNP-RGC are critical for ANF and CNP signaling, and other ARM-Gly residues have minimal effect in the respective signaling processes.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Identification of regulatory modules mediating specific expression of the roughest gene in Drosophila melanogaster.

Roughest (Rst) is a cell adhesion molecule of the immunoglobulin superfamily with pleiotropic functions during the development of Drosophila melanogaster. It has been shown to be involved in cell sorting before apoptosis in the developing compound eye, in fusion processes of embryonic muscle development and in axonal pathfinding. In accordance with its multiple functions, the rst gene shows a dynamic expression pattern throughout the development of Drosophila. In order to understand the transcriptional regulation of rst expression we have identified rst cis regulatory sequences in an enhancer detection screen. By dissection of the identified rst cis regulatory sequences we identified several distinct rst regulatory modules. Among others these include elements for expression in interommatidial cells of the pupal eye disc at a time when apoptotic decisions are made in these cells and elements for expression in the embryonic mesoderm. The expression of rst in the embryonic mesoderm is regulated by at least two separate modules.

Animals↗

A structural motif that defines the ATP-regulatory module of guanylate cyclase in atrial natriuretic factor signalling.

Atrial natriuretic factor (ANF)-dependent guanylate cyclase is a single-chain transmembrane-spanning protein, containing an ANF receptor and having catalytic activity. ANF binding to the receptor domain activates the catalytic domain, generating the second messenger cyclic GMP. Obligatory in this activation process is an intervening step regulated by ATP, but its mechanism is not known. Through a programme of site-directed and deletion mutagenesis/expression studies, we report herein the identity of a structural motif (Gly503-Arg-Gly-Ser-Asn-Tyr-Gly509) that binds ATP and amplifies the ANF-dependent cyclase activity; this, therefore, represents an ATP-regulatory module (ARM) of the enzyme, which plays a pivotal role in ANF signalling.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Gene-regulatory modules in Escherichia coli: nucleoprotein complexes formed by cAMP-CRP and CytR at the nupG promoter.

Repression by CytR depends on the formation of nucleoprotein complexes in which the CytR repressor and the cAMP-CRP activator complex bind co-operatively to the DNA. Transcription initiation from CytR-regulated promoters requires cAMP-CRP; therefore, the cAMP-CRP complex functions both as an activator and as a co-repressor in these promoters. Another interesting aspect of the CytR regulon is that each promoter appears to have individual features. Therefore, structural and functional rules governing the formation of repression and activation complexes in one promoter may not be valid for other promoters of the CytR regulon. Here we show that the Escherichia coli nupG gene contains one CytR- and four CRP-binding sites in the control region. Notably, the architecture of the CytR binding site is different from previously described targets. In addition, the CytR repressor triggers a DNA repositioning of a cAMP-CRP complex in the -35 region upon binding to its operator. Thus, formation of the repression and activation complexes at the nupG promoter involves different subsets of CRP-binding sites. These findings show that the bacterium uses positive and negative regulatory modules to differentially control the expression of CytR- and cAMP-CRP-regulated genes.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Conserved cis-regulatory modules mediate complex neural expression patterns of the eyeless gene in the Drosophila brain.

The Drosophila Pax-6 homologs eyeless (ey) and twin of eyeless (toy) are expressed in the eyes and in the central nervous system (CNS). In addition to the pivotal functions in eye development, previous studies revealed that ey also plays important roles in axonal development of the mushroom bodies, centers for associative learning and memory. It has been reported that a second intron enhancer that contains several Pax-6 binding sites mainly controls the eye-specific expression, but the DNA sequences that control CNS expression are unknown. In this work, we have dissected transcriptional enhancer elements of the ey gene that are required for the CNS expression in various developmental stages. We first show that CNS expression is independent of the eye-specific enhancer of the second intron. By systematic reporter studies, we have identified several discrete DNA elements in the 5' upstream region and in the second intron that cooperatively interact to generate most of the ey expression pattern in the CNS. DNA sequence comparison between the ey genes of distant Drosophila species has identified conserved modules that might be bound by the upstream regulatory factors of the ey gene in CNS development. Furthermore, by RNA interference and mutant studies, we show that ey expression in the brain is independent of the activity of toy and ey itself whereas in the eye primordia it requires both, supporting the notion that ey and toy are regulated by parallel and independent regulatory cascades in brain development.

Animals↗

A nuclear protein factor binds specifically to the 3'-regulatory module of the long-interspersed-nuclear-element-like Dictyostelium repetitive element.

The Dictyostelium repetitive element DRE integrates in a position-specific manner upstream of tRNA genes in the Dictyostelium discoideum genome. DRE has structural similarities to the group of long interspersed nuclear elements, whose replication mechanism is poorly understood. The C-module at the 3' end of DRE encodes a regulatory cis-acting sequence that contains an RNA polymerase II promoter. This promoter directs the synthesis of RNAs that are thought to play a critical role in DRE transposition. In this study, we describe the identification of a nuclear protein factor that binds to the C-module in a sequence-specific manner. The C-module-binding factor (CMBF) recognizes three DNA sequence motifs that contain homopolymeric (dT) stretches of variable lengths, but does not bind to a standard RNA polymerase II promoter from D, discoideum. Analysis of highly CMBF-enriched fractions and glycerol gradient sedimentation of CMBF suggest that the factor exists as a monomeric 115-kDa protein. Possible roles of CMBF in DRE transposition are discussed.

Animals↗

Anecdotes, data and regulatory modules.

Beginning in the late 1980s, Eric Davidson's group at Cal Tech developed a modularity hypothesis of developmental gene regulation, showing that in an expanding number of cases, particular aspects of development were governed by compact 'modules' of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs), and that these modules were separable, complex and interconnected. Davidson made no attempt to further generalize the hypothesis, but others took up the idea, transported it out of development and extended it to a general rule of clustering. Despite such misbegotten origins, the 'extended' modularity hypothesis--that TFBSs in general tend to come in compact clusters--has been highly productive, yet it has never been challenged with a large, diverse and unbiased dataset to see how universal it actually is. The aim of the present paper is to do so. Applying human-mouse-rat phylogenetic footprinting to neighbourhoods of a diverse set of TFBSs, including both developmental and non-developmental signals, we find that the extended hypothesis holds in at least 93.5% of cases. Based on this particular sample, we found a mean module length of 609 nucleotides containing, on an average, 24.5 presumptive regulatory signals of length greater than 5 and averaging 8.5 nucleotides each.

Animals↗

Identification of a novel cis-regulatory element involved in the heat shock response in Caenorhabditis elegans using microarray gene expression and computational methods.

We report here the identification of a previously unknown transcription regulatory element for heat shock (HS) genes in Caenorhabditis elegans. We monitored the expression pattern of 11,917 genes from C. elegans to determine the genes that were up-regulated on HS. Twenty eight genes were observed to be consistently up-regulated in several different repetitions of the experiments. We analyzed the upstream regions of these genes using computational DNA pattern recognition methods. Two potential cis-regulatory motifs were identified in this way. One of these motifs (TTCTAGAA) was the DNA binding motif for the heat shock factor (HSF), whereas the other (GGGTGTC) was previously unreported in the literature. We determined the significance of these motifs for the HS genes using different statistical tests and parameters. Comparative sequence analysis of orthologous HS genes from C. elegans and Caenorhabditis briggsae indicated that the identified DNA regulatory motifs are conserved across related species. The role of the identified DNA sites in regulation of HS genes was tested by in vitro mutagenesis of a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter transgene driven by the C. elegans hsp-16-2 promoter. DNA sites corresponding to both motifs are shown to play a significant role in up-regulation of the hsp-16-2 gene on HS. This is one of the rare instances in which a novel regulatory element, identified using computational methods, is shown to be biologically active. The contributions of individual sites toward induction of transcription on HS are nonadditive, which indicates interaction and cross-talk between the sites, possibly through the transcription factors (TFs) binding to these sites.

Animals↗

A CsWRKY46-CsPBL9-CsARI1 tripartite regulatory module coordinates H2O2 production and callose deposition in citrus fruit immunity.

Plant immunity against pathogens involves multiple immune responses and intricate regulatory networks. However, how immune networks are deployed in fruit remains poorly understood. Here, we show that citrus fruit immune responses, including hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production and callose deposition, are multiply regulated by transcriptional activation, phosphorylation, and ubiquitination. Citrus sinensis genes encoding nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase CsRBOHG and callose synthase CsCalS5, responsible for H2O2 production and callose deposition, respectively, are transcriptionally activated by CsWRKY46. Phosphorylation-enhanced activity of CsRBOHG by CsPBL9 enhances immunity. RING1-IBR-RING2 (RBR)-type E3 ligase CsARI1, acting as an immune brake, ubiquitinates CsRBOHG and CsCalS5 for degradation. Interestingly, CsARI1 also shows a moonlight function wherein it interacts with CsPBL9 in a non-ubiquitination manner, disrupting CsPBL9's interaction with CsRBOHG. This CsARI1-CsPBL9 interaction is stimulated by H2O2 as feedback. Moreover, H2O2 contributes to callose deposition, indicating an interplay between two immune responses. Our study reveals a tripartite regulatory hub orchestrating self-linked immunity in citrus fruit.

CP: plants↗

Phylogenetic analysis of 5'-noncoding regions from the ABA-responsive rab16/17 gene family of sorghum, maize and rice provides insight into the composition, organization and function of cis-regulatory modules.

Phylogenetic analysis of sequences from gene families and homologous genes from species of varying divergence can be used to identify conserved noncoding regulatory elements. In this study, phylogenetic analysis of 5'-noncoding sequences was optimized using rab17, a well-characterized ABA-responsive gene from maize, and five additional rab16/17 homologs from sorghum and rice. Conserved 5'-noncoding sequences among the maize, sorghum, and rice rab16/17 homologs were identified with the aid of the software program FootPrinter and by screening for known transcription-factor-binding sites. Searches for 7 of 8 (7/8)bp sequence matches within aligned 5'-noncoding segments of the rab genes identified many of the cis-elements previously characterized by biochemical analysis in maize rab17 plus several additional putative regulatory elements. Differences in the composition of conserved noncoding sequences among rab16/17 genes were related to variation in rab gene mRNA levels in different tissues and to response to ABA treatment using qRT-PCR. Absence of a GRA-like element in the promoter of sorghum dhn2 relative to maize rab17 was correlated with an approximately 85-fold reduction of dhn2 RNA in sorghum shoots. Overall, we conclude that phylogenetic analysis of gene families among rice, sorghum, and maize will help identify regulatory sequences in the noncoding regions of genes and contribute to our understanding of grass gene regulatory networks.

5' Untranslated Regions↗

A CqbZIP55-CqPIF3 regulatory module associated with light-responsive flavonoid biosynthesis during quinoa seedling de-etiolation.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is an emerging leafy vegetable and microgreen crop rich in health-promoting flavonoids, yet the regulatory mechanisms linking light perception to early metabolic adaptation remain unclear. Here, we integrated phenotypic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, and molecular analyses to investigate early de-etiolation responses in quinoa seedlings. Short-term light exposure rapidly promoted seedling establishment and induced transcriptional programs associated with photosynthesis, carbon metabolism, hormone signaling, and flavonoid biosynthetic gene expression, whereas metabolite changes were more limited, indicating temporal uncoupling between transcriptional activation and metabolic accumulation. Genome-wide bZIP analysis identified CqbZIP55 as a light-responsive regulator that directly binds and activates the CqCHS promoter. CqPIF3 also bound the CqCHS promoter and showed stronger transactivation activity than CqbZIP55 in transient reporter assays. Protein interaction and dual-luciferase assays showed that CqbZIP55 physically interacts with CqPIF3 and modulates CqPIF3-associated promoter activity. Exogenous quercetin upregulated CqbZIP55 and prolonged CqCHS expression, suggesting a candidate metabolite-associated reinforcement mechanism. Together, these findings support functional interplay between CqbZIP55 and CqPIF3 in light-responsive regulation of flavonoid biosynthetic gene expression in quinoa seedlings, while further quinoa-based perturbation and in vivo promoter-occupancy assays are required to establish their physiological role in planta. This study provides a framework for further investigation of photoprotective metabolic regulation in quinoa.

Chenopodium quinoa↗

A genetic algorithm for the detection of new cis-regulatory modules in sets of coregulated genes.

SUMMARY: The implementation of a genetic algorithm is described that provides a fast method of searching for the optimal combination of transcription factor binding sites in a set of regulatory sequences. AVAILABILITY: The algorithm can be used transparently as a web service from within the Toucan software. Toucan can be accessed at http://www.esat.kuleuven.ac.be/~saerts/software/toucan.php. A standalone version of the software is available upon request.

Algorithms↗

Large scale transgenic and cluster deletion analysis of the HoxD complex separate an ancestral regulatory module from evolutionary innovations.

The ancestral role of the Hox gene family is specifying morphogenetic differences along the main body axis. In vertebrates, HoxD genes were also co-opted along with the emergence of novel structures such as limbs and genitalia. We propose that these functional recruitments relied on the appearance, or implementation, of regulatory sequences outside of the complex. Whereas transgenic human and murine HOXD clusters could function during axial patterning, in mice they were not expressed outside the trunk. Accordingly, deletion of the entire cluster abolished axial expression, whereas recently acquired regulatory controls were preserved.

Animals↗

Evaluation of regulatory potential and conservation scores for detecting cis-regulatory modules in aligned mammalian genome sequences.

Techniques of comparative genomics are being used to identify candidate functional DNA sequences, and objective evaluations are needed to assess their effectiveness. Different analytical methods score distinctive features of whole-genome alignments among human, mouse, and rat to predict functional regions. We evaluated three of these methods for their ability to identify the positions of known regulatory regions in the well-studied HBB gene complex. Two methods, multispecies conserved sequences and phastCons, quantify levels of conservation to estimate a likelihood that aligned DNA sequences are under purifying selection. A third function, regulatory potential (RP), measures the similarity of patterns in the alignments to those in known regulatory regions. The methods can correctly identify 50%-60% of noncoding positions in the HBB gene complex as regulatory or nonregulatory, with RP performing better than do other methods. When evaluated by the ability to discriminate genomic intervals, RP reaches a sensitivity of 0.78 and a true discovery rate of approximately 0.6. The performance is better on other reference sets; both phastCons and RP scores can capture almost all regulatory elements in those sets along with approximately 7% of the human genome.

Algorithms↗

Genome-wide identification of the carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase gene family in wheat and analysis of the TaDREB-7A-TaNCED9a regulatory module conferring drought tolerance.

Carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases (CCDs) play critical roles in plant growth, development, and abiotic stress responses, yet their genome-wide identification and drought response mechanisms remain unexplored in wheat. In this study, 34 TaCCD genes were identified in wheat, distributed across 15 chromosomes and phylogenetically classified into five subfamilies. Gene structure analysis indicated that members within each subfamily shared conserved motifs and similar intron-exon arrangements. Cis-regulatory element analysis suggested the potential roles of these genes in stress adaptation, developmental processes, and hormone signaling. Moreover, prediction of tertiary structures and protein-protein interactions revealed unique structural features and potential interacting partners of the TaCCD proteins. In addition, TaNCED9a, a member of the TaCCD family, showed the highest transcript level in wheat roots among all detected TaCCD genes and was significantly induced by drought stress. Subcellular localization assay indicated that TaNCED9a was located in chloroplasts. Downregulation of TaNCED9a expression led to reduced drought resistance in wheat, accompanied by an accumulation of reactive oxygen species and a decrease in endogenous abscisic acid levels. Using yeast one-hybrid, dual-luciferase, and tobacco transient co-expression assays, the upstream regulatory factor TaDREB-7A was identified, which can regulate the expression of TaNCED9a. Additionally, a KASP molecular marker was developed to identify the superior haplotype TaNCED9a-HapI, which exhibited a significantly higher germination rate compared to TaNCED9a-HapII under drought conditions, and was predominant in wheat. These results offer valuable insights into the TaCCD gene family's response mechanisms to drought stress in wheat, simultaneously identifying promising genetic resources for enhancing drought tolerance through molecular breeding.

CCD↗

Identifying functional cis-acting regulatory modules of the yan gene in Drosophila melanogaster.

Yan is a nuclear DNA-binding protein that acts as a general inhibitor of cellular differentiation and proliferation in Drosophila melanogaster. The genetic and biochemical mechanisms required for regulating Yan protein function are well understood, however, the molecular mechanism of yan gene transcriptional regulation has not been fully elucidated. Here we show that the dynamic expression of the yan gene is specified by distinct spatial and temporal cis-acting regulatory elements in embryos and larval tissues. Each of these distinct elements is thus capable of replicating vital aspects of endogenous yan gene expression.

Animals↗

Investigations into sigmaB-modulated regulatory pathways governing extracellular virulence determinant production in Staphylococcus aureus.

The commonly used Staphylococcus aureus laboratory strain 8325-4 bears a naturally occurring 11-bp deletion in the sigmaB-regulating phosphatase rsbU. We have previously published a report (M. J. Horsburgh, J. L. Aish, I. J. White, L. Shaw, J. K. Lithgow, and S. J. Foster, J. Bacteriol. 184:5457-5467, 2002) on restoring the rsbU deletion, producing a sigmaB-functional 8325-4 derivative, SH1000. SH1000 is pleiotropically altered in phenotype from 8325-4, displaying enhanced pigmentation, increased growth yields, and a marked decrease in secreted exoproteins. This reduction in exoprotein secretion appears to result from a sixfold reduction in agr expression. In this study we have undertaken transposon mutagenesis of SH1000 to identify components involved in the modulation of extracellular proteases and alpha-hemolysin compared to 8325-4. In total, 13 genes were identified displaying increased alpha-hemolysin transcription and extracellular proteolysis. Phenotypic analysis revealed that each mutant also had decreased pigmentation and a general increase in protein secretion. Interestingly this phenotype was not identical in each case but was variable from mutant to mutant. None of the genes identified encoded classic regulatory proteins but were predominantly metabolic enzymes involved in amino acid biosynthesis and transport. Further analysis revealed that all of these mutations were clustered in a 35-kb region of the chromosome. By complementation and genetic manipulation we were able to demonstrate the validity of these mutations. Interestingly transcriptional analysis revealed that rather than being regulated by sigmaB, these genes appeared to have a role in the regulation of sigmaB activity. Thus, we propose that the loss of individual genes in this chromosomal hot spot region results in a destabilization of cellular harmony and disruption of the sigmaB regulatory cascade.

Bacterial Proteins↗