Identification of novel regulatory factor X (RFX) target genes by comparative genomics in Drosophila species
Authors
Laurencon, AnneDubruille, Raphaelle
Efimenko, Evgeni
Grenier, Guillaume
Bissett, Ryan
Cortier, Elisabeth
Rolland, Vivien
Swoboda, Peter
Durand, Benedicte
UMass Chan Affiliations
NeurobiologyDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2007-09-17Keywords
Amino Acid MotifsAnimals
Binding Sites
Caenorhabditis elegans
Conserved Sequence
DNA-Binding Proteins
Drosophila
Drosophila melanogaster
Gene Expression Profiling
*Gene Expression Regulation
Genes, Reporter
Genomics
Humans
Promoter Regions, Genetic
Species Specificity
Transcription Factors
Genetics and Genomics
Life Sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
BACKGROUND: Regulatory factor X (RFX) transcription factors play a key role in ciliary assembly in nematode, Drosophila and mouse. Using the tremendous advantages of comparative genomics in closely related species, we identified novel genes regulated by dRFX in Drosophila. RESULTS: We first demonstrate that a subset of known ciliary genes in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila are regulated by dRFX and have a conserved RFX binding site (X-box) in their promoters in two highly divergent Drosophila species. We then designed an X-box consensus sequence and carried out a genome wide computer screen to identify novel genes under RFX control. We found 412 genes that share a conserved X-box upstream of the ATG in both species, with 83 genes presenting a more restricted consensus. We analyzed 25 of these 83 genes, 16 of which are indeed RFX target genes. Two of them have never been described as involved in ciliogenesis. In addition, reporter construct expression analysis revealed that three of the identified genes encode proteins specifically localized in ciliated endings of Drosophila sensory neurons. CONCLUSION: Our X-box search strategy led to the identification of novel RFX target genes in Drosophila that are involved in sensory ciliogenesis. We also established a highly valuable Drosophila cilia and basal body dataset. These results demonstrate the accuracy of the X-box screen and will be useful for the identification of candidate genes for human ciliopathies, as several human homologs of RFX target genes are known to be involved in diseases, such as Bardet-Biedl syndrome.Source
Genome Biol. 2007;8(9):R195. Link to article on publisher's site 2007 Laurençon et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.DOI
10.1186/gb-2007-8-9-r195Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/39472PubMed ID
17875208; 17875208Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedRights
© 2007 Laurençon et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1186/gb-2007-8-9-r195