Background: The understanding of how promoter regions regulate gene expression is complicated and far from being fully understood. It is known that histones' regulation of DNA compactness, DNA methylation, transcription factor binding sites and CpG islands play a role in the transcriptional regulation of a gene. Many high-throughput techniques exist nowadays which permit the detection of epigenetic marks and regulatory elements in the promoter regions of thousands of genes. However, so far the subsequent analysis of such experiments (e.g. the resulting gene lists) have been hampered by the fact that currently no tool exists for a detailed analysis of the promoter regions.
Results: We present ContDist, a tool to statistically analyze quantitative gene and promoter properties. The software includes approximately 200 quantitative features of gene and promoter regions for 7 commonly studied species. In contrast to "traditionally" ontological analysis which only works on qualitative data, all the features in the underlying annotation database are quantitative gene and promoter properties.Utilizing the strong focus on the promoter region of this tool, we show its usefulness in two case studies; the first on differentially methylated promoters and the second on the fundamental differences between housekeeping and tissue specific genes. The two case studies allow both the confirmation of recent findings as well as revealing previously unreported biological relations.
Conclusion: ContDist is a new tool with two important properties: 1) it has a strong focus on the promoter region which is usually disregarded by virtually all ontology tools and 2) it uses quantitative (continuously distributed) features of the genes and its promoter regions which are not available in any other tool. ContDist is available from http://web.bioinformatics.cicbiogune.es/CD/ContDistribution.php.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-10-7 | DOI Listing |
Front Biosci (Landmark Ed)
December 2024
Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Background: Spatial-temporal control of mRNA translation in dendrites is important for synaptic plasticity. In response to pre-synaptic stimuli, local mRNA translation can be rapidly triggered near stimulated synapses to supply the necessary proteins for synapse maturation or elimination, and 3' untranslated regions (UTRs) are responsible for proper localization of mRNAs in dendrites. Although is a robust technique for analyzing RNA localization in fixed neurons, live-cell imaging of RNA dynamics remains challenging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
December 2024
Engineering Research Center of Chestnut Industry Technology, Ministry of Education, Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology, Qinhuangdao, Hebei, China.
Chinese chestnut ( Blume) is an important economic forest tree species and mainly cultivated in mountainous areas and wastelands, subjecting it to various abiotic stresses. The protein phosphatase 2C (PP2C) genes contributes largely to stress responses in plants. However, the characteristics and functions of genes in remain unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
December 2024
College of Landscape Engineering, Suzhou Polytechnic Institute of Agriculture, Suzhou, China.
Roses () are among the most cherished ornamental plants globally, yet they are highly susceptible to infections by , the causative agent of gray mold disease. Here we inoculated the resistant rose variety 'Yellow Leisure Liness' with to investigate its resistance mechanisms against gray mold disease. Through transcriptome sequencing, we identified 578 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that were significantly upregulated at 24, 48, and 72 hours post-inoculation, with these genes significantly enriched for three defense response-related GO terms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOncol Res
December 2024
Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China.
Objective: Gastric cancer (GC) is a globally common cancer characterized by high incidence and mortality worldwide. Advances in the molecular understanding of GC provide promising targets for GC diagnosis and therapy. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and their downstream regulators are regarded to be implicated in the progression of multiple types of malignancies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOncol Res
December 2024
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Shandong Provincial Third Hospital, Jinan, 250010, China.
Background: To investigate SCL/TAL 1 interrupting locus ()'s role and prognostic significance in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) progression, we examined and E2 promoter binding factor 1 (E2F1) expression and their impacts on LUAD prognosis using Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA).
Methods: Functional assays including CCK-8, wound-healing, 5-ethynyl-2-deoxyuridine (EdU), Transwell assays, and flow cytometry, elucidated and E2F1's effects on cell viability, proliferation, apoptosis, and migration. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) identified potential pathways, while metabolic assays assessed glucose metabolism.
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