Hawkins R David, Ren Bing
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, UCSD School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Hum Mol Genet. 2006 Apr 15;15 Spec No 1:R1-7. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddl043.
Gene expression analysis of microarray data can provide a global view of the transcriptome of a cell or specific tissue type, revealing important information about the kinds of signaling pathways, genes and protein classifications that are active. However, transcript profiles alone do not reveal how expression levels are controlled or which transcription factors (TFs) are responsible. Establishing transcriptional regulatory networks requires knowledge of TFs bound to promoter, enhancer and repressor elements. Accessibility of these sites and an additional level of control are mediated by chromatin and DNA modifications. Genome-wide location analysis is a tool for identifying protein-DNA interaction sites on a genomic scale. Applications of this tool are proving invaluable in determining in vivo target genes of TFs, epigenetic marks and cis-regulatory elements. Here, we will discuss how advances have been made in each of these categories and how this has helped to elucidate regulatory networks and control mechanisms.
微阵列数据的基因表达分析能够提供细胞或特定组织类型转录组的全局视图，揭示有关活跃的信号通路、基因和蛋白质分类的重要信息。然而，仅凭转录谱并不能揭示表达水平是如何受到调控的，也无法确定哪些转录因子（TFs）发挥了作用。建立转录调控网络需要了解与启动子、增强子和抑制元件结合的转录因子。这些位点的可及性以及另一层面的调控是由染色质和DNA修饰介导的。全基因组定位分析是一种在基因组规模上识别蛋白质-DNA相互作用位点的工具。事实证明，该工具在确定转录因子的体内靶基因、表观遗传标记和顺式调控元件方面具有极高的价值。在此，我们将讨论在上述每个类别中取得了哪些进展，以及这如何有助于阐明调控网络和控制机制。
