To understand how the arrangement of TF binding sites relates to their functional output, we analyzed the TRN controlling the zygotic expression of the gene hunchback, a transcription factor that is, partly, regulated by bicoid [Wunderlich et al., submitted]. Using a quantitative selleck inhibitor in situ hybridization pipeline [ 20], we measured the relative mRNA levels controlled by a
hunchback cis-regulatory element (CRE) and its five regulators at cellular resolution. This allowed us to model the relationship between TF mRNA concentrations (inputs) and mRNA expression directed by the hunchback CRE (output) in individual cells. We first measured both input levels and output levels in transgenic D. melanogaster lines that express a reporter under
the control of the hunchback zygotic CRE from six different Drosophila species. We then measured the inputs and outputs in the endogenous settings of three Drosophilids [[ 20], Fowlkes et al. PLoS Genetics, in press]. Using these data, we fit a simple linear function connecting the inputs to the output of one CRE and used this function to predict expression for orthologous CREs, with and without a calculated value for the cis-regulatory contributions to output. We found that predicted TF binding site occupancy summed across selleck antibody the CRE is an effective measure of relative cis-regulatory function. This is surprising given that the calculation does not account for cooperative or mutually exclusive TF binding. This is likely because orthologous CREs have been selected for functional TF binding site arrangements, allowing a simple measure of overall site strength to capture functional differences between sequences. This result underscores the flexibility of CRE sequences with respect to TF binding strength and arrangement, which is known to
vary between individuals and species [ 33 and 34]. Often a single TRN with a small number of TFs can specify several different cell types. Zinzen et al. used see more ChIP-chip binding data and tissue-level CRE activity data to investigate how a TRN specifies several different mesodermal cell types [ 35••]. They measured the genome-wide binding of five TFs involved in mesodermal specification and differentiation at several time points over ten hours of development, beginning before gastrulation. Though there are other TFs that also contribute to this process, the study was limited to the five TFs essential for mesodermal specification and differentiation. The goal of the study was to predict the expression patterns driven by candidate CREs identified by ChIP-chip. The strategy used was to make a statistical model that correlates ChIP-chip binding patterns with tissue-level expression patterns.