@article{2061, keywords = {Animals, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Transcription Factors, Nuclear Proteins, Forkhead Transcription Factors, Urochordata}, author = {Naoe Harafuji and David Keys and Michael Levine}, title = {Genome-wide identification of tissue-specific enhancers in the Ciona tadpole.}, abstract = {
Less than 100 cis-regulatory DNAs have been characterized in the context of transgenic metazoan embryos. Here we investigate the feasibility of conducting a genome-wide search for tissue-specific enhancers in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. A total of 138 random genomic DNA fragments with an average size of 1.7 kb were separately placed 5{\textquoteright} of a lacZ reporter gene. Eleven of the lacZ fusion genes displayed localized patterns of expression in tadpole-stage Ciona embryos. At least five of these transgenes appear to contain bona fide tissue-specific enhancers that direct expression in the cerebral vesicle, neural tube, primordial adhesive organ, notochord, and tail epidermis. One of the enhancers maps near Distalless (Ci-Dll-A) and recapitulates most aspects of the endogenous expression pattern, including localized expression in the anterior-most regions of the neurogenic ectoderm. We discuss the prospects of creating a regulatory atlas of the Ciona genome, whereby every enhancer is identified for every gene.
}, year = {2002}, journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A}, volume = {99}, pages = {6802-5}, month = {05/2002}, language = {eng}, }