TY - JOUR
T1 - Ancestral and conserved cis-regulatory architectures in developmental control genes
AU - Rebeiz, Mark
AU - Castro, Brian
AU - Liu, Feng
AU - Yue, Feng
AU - Posakony, James W.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Steve Miller for providing his attB-H-Stinger GFP reporter vector, for permitting us to describe unpublished results, and for valuable comments on the manuscript. We thank Scott Rifkin for his very useful suggestions for improving the Discussion. The Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank provided antibodies; the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center provided fly stocks. This work was supported by NIH grant R01 GM046993 to J.W.P.
PY - 2012/2/15
Y1 - 2012/2/15
N2 - Among developmental control genes, transcription factor-target gene "linkages" - the direct connections between target genes and the factors that control their patterns of expression - can show remarkable evolutionary stability. However, the specific binding sites that mediate and define these regulatory connections are themselves often subject to rapid turnover. Here we describe several instances in which particular transcription factor binding motif combinations have evidently been conserved upstream of orthologous target genes for extraordinarily long evolutionary periods. This occurs against a backdrop in which other binding sites for the same factors are coming and going rapidly. Our examples include a particular Dpp Silencer Element upstream of insect brinker genes, in combination with a novel motif we refer to as the Downstream Element; combinations of a Suppressor of Hairless Paired Site (SPS) and a specific proneural protein binding site associated with arthropod Notch pathway target genes; and a three-motif combination, also including an SPS, upstream of deuterostome Hes repressor genes, which are also Notch targets. We propose that these stable motif architectures have been conserved intact from a deep ancestor, in part because they mediate a special mode of regulation that cannot be supplied by the other, unstable motif instances.
AB - Among developmental control genes, transcription factor-target gene "linkages" - the direct connections between target genes and the factors that control their patterns of expression - can show remarkable evolutionary stability. However, the specific binding sites that mediate and define these regulatory connections are themselves often subject to rapid turnover. Here we describe several instances in which particular transcription factor binding motif combinations have evidently been conserved upstream of orthologous target genes for extraordinarily long evolutionary periods. This occurs against a backdrop in which other binding sites for the same factors are coming and going rapidly. Our examples include a particular Dpp Silencer Element upstream of insect brinker genes, in combination with a novel motif we refer to as the Downstream Element; combinations of a Suppressor of Hairless Paired Site (SPS) and a specific proneural protein binding site associated with arthropod Notch pathway target genes; and a three-motif combination, also including an SPS, upstream of deuterostome Hes repressor genes, which are also Notch targets. We propose that these stable motif architectures have been conserved intact from a deep ancestor, in part because they mediate a special mode of regulation that cannot be supplied by the other, unstable motif instances.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ydbio.2011.12.011
DO - 10.1016/j.ydbio.2011.12.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 22185795
AN - SCOPUS:84856121390
SN - 0012-1606
VL - 362
SP - 282
EP - 294
JO - Developmental biology
JF - Developmental biology
IS - 2
ER -