Dataset Information

Expression profile and transcription factor binding site exploration of imprinted genes in human and mouse.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In mammals, imprinted genes are regulated by an epigenetic mechanism that results in parental origin-specific expression. Though allele-specific regulation of imprinted genes has been studied for several individual genes in detail, little is known about their overall tissue-specific expression patterns and interspecies conservation of expression.

Results

We performed a computational analysis of microarray expression data of imprinted genes in human and mouse placentae and in a variety of adult tissues. For mouse, early embryonic stages were also included. The analysis reveals that imprinted genes are expressed in a broad spectrum of tissues for both species. Overall, the relative tissue-specific expression levels of orthologous imprinted genes in human and mouse are not highly correlated. However, in both species distinctive expression profiles are found in tissues of the endocrine pathways such as adrenal gland, pituitary, pancreas as well as placenta. In mouse, the placental and embryonic expression patterns of imprinted genes are highly similar. Transcription factor binding site (TFBS) prediction reveals correlation of tissue-specific expression patterns and the presence of distinct TFBS signatures in the upstream region of human imprinted genes.

Conclusion

Imprinted genes are broadly expressed pre- and postnatally and do not exhibit a distinct overall expression pattern when compared to non-imprinted genes. The relative expression of most orthologous gene pairs varies significantly between human and mouse suggesting rapid species-specific changes in gene regulation. Distinct expression profiles of imprinted genes are confined to certain human and mouse hormone producing tissues, and placentae. In contrast to the overall variability, distinct expression profiles and enriched TFBS signatures are found in human and mouse endocrine tissues and placentae. This points towards an important role played by imprinted gene regulation in these tissues.

SUBMITTER: Steinhoff C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2671526 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Expression profile and transcription factor binding site exploration of imprinted genes in human and mouse.

Steinhoff Christine C Paulsen Martina M Kielbasa Szymon S Walter Jörn J Vingron Martin M

BMC genomics 20090331

<h4>Background</h4>In mammals, imprinted genes are regulated by an epigenetic mechanism that results in parental origin-specific expression. Though allele-specific regulation of imprinted genes has been studied for several individual genes in detail, little is known about their overall tissue-specific expression patterns and interspecies conservation of expression.<h4>Results</h4>We performed a computational analysis of microarray expression data of imprinted genes in human and mouse placentae a ...[more]

PMID: 19335913

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Project description:Background: The distribution and composition of cis-regulatory modules composed of transcription factor (TF) binding site (TFBS) clusters in promoters substantially determine gene expression patterns and TF targets. TF knockdown experiments have revealed that TF binding profiles and gene expression levels are correlated. We use TFBS features within accessible promoter intervals to predict genes with similar tissue-wide expression patterns and TF targets using Machine Learning (ML). Methods: Bray-Curtis Similarity was used to identify genes with correlated expression patterns across 53 tissues. TF targets from knockdown experiments were also analyzed by this approach to set up the ML framework. TFBSs were selected within DNase I-accessible intervals of corresponding promoter sequences using information theory-based position weight matrices (iPWMs) for each TF. Features from information-dense clusters of TFBSs were input to ML classifiers which predict these gene targets along with their accuracy, specificity and sensitivity. Mutations in TFBSs were analyzed in silico to examine their impact on TFBS clustering and predict changes in gene regulation. Results: The glucocorticoid receptor gene ( NR3C1), whose regulation has been extensively studied, was selected to test this approach. SLC25A32 and TANK exhibited the most similar expression patterns to NR3C1. A Decision Tree classifier exhibited the best performance in detecting such genes, based on Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROC). TF target gene prediction was confirmed using siRNA knockdown, which was more accurate than CRISPR/CAS9 inactivation. TFBS mutation analyses revealed that accurate target gene prediction required at least 1 information-dense TFBS cluster. Conclusions: ML based on TFBS information density, organization, and chromatin accessibility accurately identifies gene targets with comparable tissue-wide expression patterns. Multiple information-dense TFBS clusters in promoters appear to protect promoters from effects of deleterious binding site mutations in a single TFBS that would otherwise alter regulation of these genes.

Project description:Empirical studies have revealed that regulatory DNA sequences such as enhancers or promoters often harbor multiple binding sites for the same transcription factor. Such "homotypic site clustering" has been hypothesized as arising out of functional requirements of the sequences. Here, we propose an alternative explanation of this phenomenon that multisite enhancers are common because they are favored by evolutionary sampling of the genotype-phenotype landscape. To test this hypothesis, we developed a new computational framework specialized for population genetic simulations of enhancer evolution. It uses a thermodynamics-based model of enhancer function, integrating information from strong as well as weak binding sites, to determine the strength of selection. Using this framework, we found that even when simpler genotypes exist for a desired strength of regulation, relatively complex genotypes (enhancers with more sites) are more readily reached by the simulated evolutionary process. We show that there are more ways to "build" a fit genotype with many weak sites than with a few strong sites, and this is why evolution finds complex genotypes more often. Our claims are consistent with an empirical analysis of binding site content in enhancers characterized in Drosophila melanogaster and their orthologs in other Drosophila species. We also characterized a subtle but significant difference between genotypes likely to be sampled by evolution and equally fit genotypes one would obtain by uniform sampling of the fitness landscape, that is, an "evolutionary signature" in enhancer sequences. Finally, we investigated potential effects of other factors, such as rugged fitness landscapes, short local duplications, and noise characteristics of enhancers, on the emergence of homotypic site clustering. Homotypic site clustering is an important contributor to the complexity and function of cis-regulatory sequences. This work provides a simple null hypothesis for its origin, against which alternative adaptationist explanations may be evaluated, and cautions against "evolutionary mirages" present in common features of genomic sequence. The quantitative framework we develop here can be used more generally to understand how mechanisms of enhancer action influence their composition and evolution.

Dataset Information

Expression profile and transcription factor binding site exploration of imprinted genes in human and mouse.

Background

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Expression profile and transcription factor binding site exploration of imprinted genes in human and mouse.

Similar Datasets

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