Quantitative analysis of binding motifs mediating diverse spatial readouts of the Dorsal gradient in the Drosophila embryo.

@article{citeulike:1010736, abstract = {Dorsal is a sequence-specific transcription factor that is distributed in a broad nuclear gradient across the dorsal-ventral (DV) axis of the early Drosophila embryo. It initiates gastrulation by regulating at least 30-50 target genes in a concentration-dependent fashion. Previous studies identified 18 enhancers that are directly regulated by different concentrations of Dorsal. Here, we employ computational methods to determine the basis for these distinct transcriptional outputs. Orthologous enhancers were identified in a variety of divergent Drosophila species, and their comparison revealed several conserved sequence features responsible for DV patterning. In particular, the quality of Dorsal and Twist recognition sequences correlates with the DV coordinates of gene expression relative to the Dorsal gradient. These findings are entirely consistent with a gradient threshold model for DV patterning, whereby the quality of individual Dorsal binding sites determines in vivo occupancy of target enhancers by the Dorsal gradient. Linked Dorsal and Twist binding sites constitute a conserved composite element in certain "type 2" Dorsal target enhancers, which direct gene expression in ventral regions of the neurogenic ectoderm in response to intermediate levels of the Dorsal gradient. Similar motif arrangements were identified in orthologous loci in the distant mosquito genome, Anopheles gambiae. We discuss how Dorsal and Twist work either additively or synergistically to activate different target enhancers.}, address = {Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Genetics, Genomics, and Development, Center for Integrative Genomics, University of California, 16 Barker Hall No. 3204, Berkeley, CA 94720-3204, USA. dxp@berkely.edu}, author = {Papatsenko, D. and Levine, M. }, citeulike-article-id = {1010736}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0409414102}, issn = {0027-8424}, journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A}, keywords = {drosophila, motifs}, month = {April}, number = {14}, pages = {4966--4971}, posted-at = {2007-09-18 01:00:35}, priority = {2}, title = {Quantitative analysis of binding motifs mediating diverse spatial readouts of the Dorsal gradient in the Drosophila embryo.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0409414102}, volume = {102}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1010736 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1010736 N2 - Dorsal is a sequence-specific transcription factor that is distributed in a broad nuclear gradient across the dorsal-ventral (DV) axis of the early Drosophila embryo. It initiates gastrulation by regulating at least 30-50 target genes in a concentration-dependent fashion. Previous studies identified 18 enhancers that are directly regulated by different concentrations of Dorsal. Here, we employ computational methods to determine the basis for these distinct transcriptional outputs. Orthologous enhancers were identified in a variety of divergent Drosophila species, and their comparison revealed several conserved sequence features responsible for DV patterning. In particular, the quality of Dorsal and Twist recognition sequences correlates with the DV coordinates of gene expression relative to the Dorsal gradient. These findings are entirely consistent with a gradient threshold model for DV patterning, whereby the quality of individual Dorsal binding sites determines in vivo occupancy of target enhancers by the Dorsal gradient. Linked Dorsal and Twist binding sites constitute a conserved composite element in certain "type 2" Dorsal target enhancers, which direct gene expression in ventral regions of the neurogenic ectoderm in response to intermediate levels of the Dorsal gradient. Similar motif arrangements were identified in orthologous loci in the distant mosquito genome, Anopheles gambiae. We discuss how Dorsal and Twist work either additively or synergistically to activate different target enhancers. IS - 14 JF - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A SN - 0027-8424 AD - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Genetics, Genomics, and Development, Center for Integrative Genomics, University of California, 16 Barker Hall No. 3204, Berkeley, CA 94720-3204, USA. dxp@berkely.edu EP - 4971 TI - Quantitative analysis of binding motifs mediating diverse spatial readouts of the Dorsal gradient in the Drosophila embryo. VL - 102 SP - 4966 KW - drosophila KW - motifs AU - Papatsenko, D AU - Levine, M PY - 2005/04/05/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0409414102 ER -