Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Conserved non-coding elements and cis regulation: actions speak louder than words [REVIEWS]

Conserved non-coding elements and cis regulation: actions speak louder than words [REVIEWS]: Andrew C. Nelson and Fiona C. Wardle


It is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged that conserved non-coding genomic sequences function in the cis regulation of neighbouring genes. But is this a misconception? The literature is strewn with examples of conserved non-coding sequences being able to drive reporter expression, but the extent to which such sequences are actually used endogenously in vivo is only now being rigorously explored using unbiased genome-scale approaches. Here, we review the emerging picture, examining the extent to which conserved non-coding sequences equivalently regulate gene expression in different species, or at different developmental stages, and how genomics approaches are revealing the relationship between sequence conservation and functional use of cis-regulatory elements.

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