Cis-regulatory sequences direct patterns of gene expression essential for development and physiology. Evolutionary changes in these sequences contribute to phenotypic divergence. Despite their importance, cis-regulatory regions remain one of the most enigmatic features of the genome. Patterns of sequence evolution can be used to identify cis-regulatory elements, but the power of this approach depends upon the relationship between sequence and function. Comparative studies of gene regulation among Diptera reveal that divergent sequences can underlie conserved expression, and that expression differences can evolve despite largely similar sequences. This complex structure-function relationship is the primary impediment for computational identification and interpretation of cis-regulatory sequences. Biochemical characterization and in vivo assays of cis-regulatory sequences on a genomic-scale will relieve this barrier.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.hdy.6800869 | DOI Listing |
Nature
January 2025
Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
The human genome contains millions of candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) with cell-type-specific activities that shape both health and many disease states. However, we lack a functional understanding of the sequence features that control the activity and cell-type-specific features of these cCREs. Here we used lentivirus-based massively parallel reporter assays (lentiMPRAs) to test the regulatory activity of more than 680,000 sequences, representing an extensive set of annotated cCREs among three cell types (HepG2, K562 and WTC11), and found that 41.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHortic Res
January 2025
School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, Jiangsu, China.
Gene transcription is governed by a complex regulatory system involving changes in chromatin structure, the action of transcription factors, and the activation of -regulatory elements. Postharvest fruits are threatened by , a leading causal agent of blue mold disease and one of the most economically significant postharvest pathogens worldwide. However, information on its transcription regulatory mechanism is lagging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Genet
January 2025
Hoffmann Lab, Leibniz Institute on Aging-Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI), Jena, Germany.
Convergent transcription, that is, the collision of sense and antisense transcription, is ubiquitous in mammalian genomes and believed to diminish RNA expression. Recently, antisense transcription downstream of promoters was found to be surprisingly prevalent. However, functional characteristics of affected promoters are poorly investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Genet
January 2025
Calico Life Sciences LLC, South San Francisco, CA, USA.
Sequence-based machine-learning models trained on genomics data improve genetic variant interpretation by providing functional predictions describing their impact on the cis-regulatory code. However, current tools do not predict RNA-seq expression profiles because of modeling challenges. Here, we introduce Borzoi, a model that learns to predict cell-type-specific and tissue-specific RNA-seq coverage from DNA sequence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Syst
January 2025
The Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology, Saint Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Genetics, Saint Louis, MO 63110, USA. Electronic address:
Deep learning is a promising strategy for modeling cis-regulatory elements. However, models trained on genomic sequences often fail to explain why the same transcription factor can activate or repress transcription in different contexts. To address this limitation, we developed an active learning approach to train models that distinguish between enhancers and silencers composed of binding sites for the photoreceptor transcription factor cone-rod homeobox (CRX).
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