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De novo discovery of a tissue-specific gene regulatory module in a chordate.

ABSTRACT: We engage the experimental and computational challenges of de novo regulatory module discovery in a complex and largely unstudied metazoan genome. Our analysis is based on the comprehensive characterization of regulatory elements of 20 muscle genes in the chordate, Ciona savignyi. Three independent types of data we generate contribute to the characterization of a muscle-specific regulatory module: (1) Positive elements (PEs), short sequences sufficient for strong muscle expression that are identified in a high-resolution in vivo analysis; (2) CisModules (CMs), candidate regulatory modules defined by clusters of overrepresented motifs predicted de novo; and (3) Conserved elements (CEs), short noncoding sequences of strong conservation between C. savignyi and C. intestinalis. We estimate the accuracy of the computational predictions by an analysis of the intersection of these data. As final biological validation of the discovered muscle regulatory module, we implement a novel algorithm to search the genome for instances of the module and identify seven novel enhancers.

SUBMITTER: Johnson DS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1240073 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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De novo discovery of a tissue-specific gene regulatory module in a chordate.

Johnson David S DS Zhou Qing Q Yagi Kasumi K Satoh Nori N Wong Wing W Sidow Arend A

Genome research 20050916 10

We engage the experimental and computational challenges of de novo regulatory module discovery in a complex and largely unstudied metazoan genome. Our analysis is based on the comprehensive characterization of regulatory elements of 20 muscle genes in the chordate, Ciona savignyi. Three independent types of data we generate contribute to the characterization of a muscle-specific regulatory module: (1) Positive elements (PEs), short sequences sufficient for strong muscle expression that are ident ...[more]

PMID: 16169925

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Project description:BACKGROUND: The tropical green-lipped mussel Perna viridis is a common biomonitor throughout the Indo-Pacific region that is used for environmental monitoring and ecotoxicological investigations. However, there is limited molecular data available regarding this species. We sought to establish a global transcriptome database from the tissues of adductor muscle, gills and the hepatopancreas of P. viridis in an effort to advance our understanding of the molecular aspects involved during specific toxicity responses in this sentinel species. RESULTS: Illumina sequencing results yielded 544,272,542 high-quality filtered reads. After de novo assembly using Trinity, 233,257 contigs were generated with an average length of 1,264 bp and an N50 length of 2,868 bp; 192,879 assembled transcripts and 150,111 assembled unigenes were obtained after clustering. A total of 93,668 assembled transcripts (66,692 assembled genes) with putative functions for protein domains were predicted based on InterProScan analysis. Based on similarity searches, 44,713 assembled transcripts and 25,319 assembled unigenes were annotated with at least one BLAST hit. A total of 21,262 assembled transcripts (11,947 assembled genes) were annotated with at least one well-defined Gene Ontology (GO) and 5,131 assembled transcripts (3,181 assembled unigenes) were assigned to 329 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. The quantity of assembled unigenes and transcripts obtained from male and female mussels were similar but varied among the three studied tissues, with the highest numbers recorded in the gills, followed by the hepatopancreas, and then the adductor muscle. Multivariate analyses revealed strong tissue-specific patterns among the three different tissues, but not between sexes in terms of expression profiles for annotated genes in various GO terms, and genes associated with stress responses and degradation of xenobiotics. The expression profiles of certain selected genes in each tissue type were further validated using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays and a similar tissue-specific trend was seen. CONCLUSIONS: The extensive sequence data generated from this study will provide a valuable molecular resource for facilitating environmental studies with P. viridis, and highlight the importance of tissue-specific approaches in the future.

Dataset Information

De novo discovery of a tissue-specific gene regulatory module in a chordate.

Publications

De novo discovery of a tissue-specific gene regulatory module in a chordate.

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