Dataset Information

Evolutionary conservation pattern of zinc-finger domains of Drosophila segmentation genes.

ABSTRACT: A number of genes of the developmental gene hierarchy in Drosophila encode transcription factors containing Cys2His2 zinc finger domains as DNA-binding motifs. To learn more about the evolution of these genes, it is necessary to clone the homologs, or more correctly the orthologs, from different species. Using PCR, we were able to obtain apparently orthologous fragments of hunchback (hb), Krüppel (Kr), and snail (sna) from a variety of arthropods and partly also from other animal phyla. Sequence alignments of these fragments show that the amino acid differences can normally not be correlated with the evolutionary distances of the respective species. This is due to an apparent saturation of potential replacements within the finger domains, which is also evident from the frequent occurrence of convergent replacements. Another recurrent feature of these alignments is that those amino acids that are directly involved in determining the DNA-binding specificity of the fingers are most conserved. Using in vitro bandshift experiments we can indeed show that the binding specificity of a hunchback finger fragment from different species is not changed. This implies that there is a high selective pressure to maintain the regulatory target elements of these genes during evolution.

SUBMITTER: Sommer RJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC50426 | biostudies-other | 1992 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Evolutionary conservation pattern of zinc-finger domains of Drosophila segmentation genes.

Sommer R J RJ Retzlaff M M Goerlich K K Sander K K Tautz D D

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 19921101 22

A number of genes of the developmental gene hierarchy in Drosophila encode transcription factors containing Cys2His2 zinc finger domains as DNA-binding motifs. To learn more about the evolution of these genes, it is necessary to clone the homologs, or more correctly the orthologs, from different species. Using PCR, we were able to obtain apparently orthologous fragments of hunchback (hb), Krüppel (Kr), and snail (sna) from a variety of arthropods and partly also from other animal phyla. Sequence ...[more]

PMID: 1438276

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Project description:Gene expression analyses have led to a better understanding of growth control of prostate cancer cells. We and others have identified the presence of several zinc finger transcription factors in the neoplastic prostate, suggesting a potential role for these genes in the regulation of the prostate cancer transcriptome. One of the transcription factors (TFs) identified in the prostate cancer epithelial cells was the Wilms tumor gene (WT1). To rapidly identify coordinately expressed prostate cancer growth control genes that may be regulated by WT1, we used an in silico approach.Evolutionary conserved transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) recognized by WT1, EGR1, SP1, SP2, AP2 and GATA1 were identified in the promoters of 24 differentially expressed prostate cancer genes from eight mammalian species. To test the relationship between sequence conservation and function, chromatin of LNCaP prostate cancer and kidney 293 cells were tested for TF binding using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). Multiple putative TFBS in gene promoters of placental mammals were found to be shared with those in human gene promoters and some were conserved between genomes that diverged about 170 million years ago (i.e., primates and marsupials), therefore implicating these sites as candidate binding sites. Among those genes coordinately expressed with WT1 was the kallikrein-related peptidase 3 (KLK3) gene commonly known as the prostate specific antigen (PSA) gene. This analysis located several potential WT1 TFBS in the PSA gene promoter and led to the rapid identification of a novel putative binding site confirmed in vivo by ChIP. Conversely for two prostate growth control genes, androgen receptor (AR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), known to be transcriptionally regulated by WT1, regulatory sequence conservation was observed and TF binding in vivo was confirmed by ChIP.Overall, this targeted approach rapidly identified important candidate WT1-binding elements in genes coordinately expressed with WT1 in prostate cancer cells, thus enabling a more focused functional analysis of the most likely target genes in prostate cancer progression. Identifying these genes will help to better understand how gene regulation is altered in these tumor cells.

Dataset Information

Evolutionary conservation pattern of zinc-finger domains of Drosophila segmentation genes.

Publications

Evolutionary conservation pattern of zinc-finger domains of Drosophila segmentation genes.

Similar Datasets

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