Werner Thomas, Fessele Sabine, Maier Holge, Nelson Peter J
GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Experimental Genetics, Neuherberg, Germany.
FASEB J. 2003 Jul;17(10):1228-37. doi: 10.1096/fj.02-0955rev.
Understanding how the regulation of gene networks is orchestrated is an important challenge for characterizing complex biological processes. Gene transcription is regulated in part by nuclear factors that recognize short DNA sequence motifs, called transcription factor binding sites, in most cases located upstream of the gene coding sequence in promoter and enhancer regions. Genes expressed in the same tissue under similar conditions often share a common organization of at least some of these regulatory binding elements. In this way the organization of promoter motifs represents a "footprint" of the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms at work in a specific biologic context and thus provides information about signal and tissue specific control of expression. Analysis of promoters for organizational features as demonstrated here provides a crucial link between the static nucleotide sequence of the genome and the dynamic aspects of gene regulation and expression.
了解基因网络的调控是如何精心安排的，是表征复杂生物过程的一项重要挑战。基因转录部分受核因子调控，这些核因子识别短DNA序列基序（称为转录因子结合位点），在大多数情况下位于启动子和增强子区域的基因编码序列上游。在相似条件下于同一组织中表达的基因通常至少共享其中一些调控结合元件的共同组织方式。通过这种方式，启动子基序的组织方式代表了在特定生物学背景下起作用的转录调控机制的“印记”，从而提供了有关表达的信号和组织特异性控制的信息。如此处所示，对启动子的组织特征进行分析，在基因组的静态核苷酸序列与基因调控和表达的动态方面之间提供了关键联系。
