A regulatory code for neurogenic gene expression in the Drosophila embryo
A regulatory code for neurogenic gene expression in the Drosophila embryo
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DOI：
10.1242/dev.01124
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发表时间：
2004-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Levine, M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Markstein, M;Zinzen, R;Levine, M
生物信息学方法已经鉴定出在果蝇胚胎中介导限制性表达的增强子。然而，只有一小部分预测的增强子在体内测试时实际上起作用。在本研究中，共调节的神经源性增强子，激活的中间水平的背调控梯度显示包含几个共享的序列基序。这些图案允许识别新的神经源性增强子，具有高精度：五个预测的增强子直接限制内腹侧区域的神经源性外胚层的表达。在一些共享的基序突变破坏增强子功能，并提出证据表明，扭曲和苏（H）调节蛋白是必不可少的腹神经源性外胚层的规格前原肠胚。在这项研究中定义的神经源性基因表达的调控模型允许在遥远的按蚊基因组中识别神经源性增强子。我们讨论了破译调控代码的前景，主要的DNA序列信息与预测的基因表达模式。
Bioinformatics methods have identified enhancers that mediate restricted expression in the Drosophila embryo. However, only a small fraction of the predicted enhancers actually work when tested in vivo. In the present study, coregulated neurogenic enhancers that are activated by intermediate levels of the Dorsal regulatory gradient are shown to contain several shared sequence motifs. These motifs permitted the identification of new neurogenic enhancers with high precision: five out of seven predicted enhancers direct restricted expression within ventral regions of the neurogenic ectoderm. Mutations in some of the shared motifs disrupt enhancer function, and evidence is presented that the Twist and Su(H) regulatory proteins are essential for the specification of the ventral neurogenic ectoderm prior to gastrulation. The regulatory model of neurogenic gene expression defined in this study permitted the identification of a neurogenic enhancer in the distant Anopheles genome. We discuss the prospects for deciphering regulatory codes that link primary DNA sequence information with predicted patterns of gene expression.