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The genome-wide mapping of gene-regulatory motifs remains a major goal that will facilitate the modelling of gene-regulatory networks and their evolution. The repressor element 1 is a long, conserved transcription factor-binding site which recruits the transcriptional repressor REST to numerous neuron-specific target genes. REST plays important roles in multiple biological processes and disease states. To map RE1 sites and target genes, we created a position specific scoring matrix representing the RE1 and used it to search the human and mouse genomes. We identified 1301 and 997 RE1s inhuman and mouse genomes, respectively, of which >40% are novel. By employing an ontological analysis we show that REST target genes are significantly enriched in a number of functional classes. Taking the novel REST target gene CACNA1A as an experimental model, we show that it can be regulated by multiple RE1s of different binding affinities, which are only partially conserved between human and mouse. A novel BLAST methodology indicated that many RE1s belong to closely related families. Most of these sequences are associated with transposable elements, leading us to propose that transposon-mediated duplication and insertion of RE1s has led to the acquisition of novel target genes by REST during evolution.

Original publication

DOI

10.1093/nar/gkl525

Type

Journal article

Journal

Nucleic Acids Res

Publication Date

2006

Volume

34

Pages

3862 - 3877

Keywords

Animals, Binding Sites, Calcium Channels, Calcium Channels, N-Type, Calcium Channels, P-Type, Calcium Channels, Q-Type, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Expression Regulation, Genomics, HeLa Cells, Humans, Introns, Mice, Mutation, Regulatory Elements, Transcriptional, Regulon, Repressor Proteins, Retroelements, Transcription Factors