• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.12
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• pp.823-828
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• 2009

Techniques for analyzing protein-DNA interactions on a genome-wide scale have recently established regulatory roles for distal enhancers. However, the large sizes of higher eukaryotic genomes have made identification of these elements difficult. Information regarding sequence conservation, exon annotation and repetitive regions can be used to reduce the size of the search region. However, previously developed resources are inadequate for consolidating such information. CONVIRT is a web resource for the identification of transcription factor binding sites and also features comparative genomics. Genomic information on ortholog-independent conserved regions, exons, repeats and sequences is integrated into the virtual chromosome, and statistically over-represented single or combinations of transcription factor binding sites are sought. CONVIRT provides regulatory network analysis for several organisms with long promoter regions and permits inter-species genome alignments. CONVIRT is freely available at http://biosoft.kaist.ac.kr/convirt.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.331-339
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• 2020

Genetic modifications in noncoding regulatory regions are likely critical to human evolution. Human-accelerated noncoding elements are highly conserved noncoding regions among vertebrates but have large differences across humans, which implies human-specific regulatory potential. In this study, we found that human-accelerated noncoding elements were frequently coupled with DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs), together with monomethylated and trimethylated histone H3 lysine 4, which are active regulatory markers. This coupling was particularly pronounced in fetal brains relative to adult brains, non-brain fetal tissues, and embryonic stem cells. However, fetal brain DHSs were also specifically enriched in deeply conserved sequences, implying coexistence of universal maintenance and human-specific fitness in human brain development. We assessed whether this coexisting pattern was a general one by quantitatively measuring evolutionary rates of DHSs. As a result, fetal brain DHSs showed a mixed but distinct signature of regional conservation and outlier point acceleration as compared to other DHSs. This finding suggests that brain developmental sequences are selectively constrained in general, whereas specific nucleotides are under positive selection or constraint relaxation simultaneously. Hence, we hypothesize that human- or primate-specific changes to universally conserved regulatory codes of brain development may drive the accelerated, and most likely adaptive, evolution of the regulatory network of the human brain.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.9.1-9.5
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• 2019

In previous studies, we demonstrated that some sites in the first intron likely regulate gene expression. In the present work, we sought to further confirm the functional relevance of first intron sites by estimating the quantity of rare alleles in the first intron. A basic hypothesis posited herein is that genomic regions carrying more functionally important sites will have a higher proportion of rare alleles. We estimated the proportions of rare single nucleotide polymorphisms with a minor allele frequency < 0.01 located in several histone marks in the first introns of various genes, and compared them with those in other introns and those in 2-kb upstream regions. As expected, rare alleles were found to be significantly enriched in most of the regulatory sites located in the first introns. Meanwhile, transcription factor binding sites were significantly more enriched in the 2-kb upstream regions (i.e., the regions of putative promoters of genes) than in the first introns. These results strongly support our proposal that the first intron sites of genes may have important regulatory functions in gene expression independent of promoters.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.343-352
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• 2022

The advent of the assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) has shown great potential as a leading method for analyzing the genome-wide profiling of chromatin accessibility. A comprehensive reference to the ATAC-seq dataset for disease progression is important for understanding the regulatory specificity caused by genetic or epigenetic changes. In this study, we present a genome-wide chromatin accessibility profile of 44 liver samples spanning the full histological spectrum of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We analyzed the ATAC-seq signal enrichment, fragment size distribution, and correlation coefficients according to the histological severity of NAFLD (healthy control vs steatosis vs fibrotic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), demonstrating the high quality of the dataset. Consequently, 112,303 merged regions (genomic regions containing one or multiple overlapping peak regions) were identified. Additionally, we found differentially accessible regions (DARs) and performed transcription factor binding motif enrichment analysis and de novo motif analysis to determine new biomarker candidates. These data revealed the gene-regulatory interactions and noncoding factors that can affect NAFLD progression. In summary, our study provides a valuable resource for the human epigenome by applying an advanced approach to facilitate diagnosis and treatment by understanding the non-coding genome of NAFLD.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.358-366
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• 2016

The digestive system is gaining interest as a major regulator of various functions including immune defense, nutrient accumulation, and regulation of feeding behavior, aside from its conventional function as a digestive organ. The Drosophila midgut epithelium is completely renewed every 1-2 weeks due to differentiation of pluripotent intestinal stem cells in the midgut. Intestinal stem cells constantly divide and differentiate into enterocytes that secrete digestive enzymes and absorb nutrients, or enteroendocrine cells that secrete regulatory peptides. Regulatory peptides have important roles in development and metabolism, but study has mainly focused on expression and functions in the nervous system, and not much is known about the roles in endocrine functions of enteroendocrine cells. We systemically examined the expression of 45 regulatory peptide genes in the Drosophila midgut, and verified that at least 10 genes are expressed in the midgut enteroendocrine cells through RT-PCR, in situ hybridization, antisera, and 25 regulatory peptide-GAL transgenes. The Drosophila midgut is highly compartmentalized, and individual peptides in enteroendocrine cells were observed to express in specific regions of the midgut. We also confirmed that some peptides expressed in the same region of the midgut are expressed in mutually exclusive enteroendocrine cells. These results indicate that the midgut enteroendocrine cells are functionally differentiated into different subgroups. Through this study, we have established a basis to study regulatory peptide functions in enteroendocrine cells as well as the complex organization of enteroendocrine cells in the Drosophila midgut.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.143-151
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• 2007

To understand the mechanism of transcriptional regulation, it is essential to detect promoters and regulatory elements. Various kinds of methods have been introduced to improve the prediction accuracy of regulatory elements. Since there are few experimentally validated regulatory elements, previous studies have used criteria based solely on the level of scores over background sequences. However, selecting the detection criteria for different prediction methods is not feasible. Here, we studied the calibration of thresholds to improve regulatory element prediction. We predicted a regulatory element using MATCH, which is a powerful tool for transcription factor binding site (TFBS) detection. To increase the prediction accuracy, we used a regulatory potential (RP) score measuring the similarity of patterns in alignments to those in known regulatory regions. Next, we calibrated the thresholds to find relevant scores, increasing the true positives while decreasing possible false positives. By applying various thresholds, we compared predicted regulatory elements with validated regulatory elements from the Open Regulatory Annotation (ORegAnno) database. The predicted regulators by the selected threshold were validated through enrichment analysis of muscle-specific gene sets from the Tissue-Specific Transcripts and Genes (T-STAG) database. We found 14 known muscle-specific regulators with a less than a 5% false discovery rate (FDR) in a single TFBS analysis, as well as known transcription factor combinations in our combinatorial TFBS analysis.

• Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1987.07a
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• pp.241-260
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• 1987

The regulatory mechanisms of gene expression in higher plant were not ascertained in detail because the genome size is very large and complex. However, the above-mentioned study is remarkably progressed in parallel with development of DNA recombinant technology and plant vector system. Some research results connected with the mechanisms could be summarized as follows. 1. Many plant genes including chloroplast genes are cloned. 2. The structures of some regulatory regions of gene expression are determined, and it is confirmed that new regulatory units are made by transposable elements. 3. Plant gene expression is regulated not only at transcriptional level but also at translational level. 4. The factors that regulate plant gene expression could be divided as two categorys. One is endogenous elements including the structural change of chromatin during development stage and tissue differentiation. The other is environmental stimulations such as air, water, heat, salts and light. However, some sufficient research-aid fund is essential in order to study the regulatory mechanisms of gene expression more systematically.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.190-194
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• 2004

The gene product of dctD (DctD) activates transcription from the dctA promoter regulatory region by the $\sigma^{54}$ -holoenzyme form ofRNA polymerase ($E\sigma^{54}$ ) in Rhizobium meliloti and R. leguminosarum. The Escherichia coli integration host factor (IHF) stimulated DctD-mediated activation from the dctA promoter regulatory region of R. leguminosarum but not R. meliloti. In the absence of UAS, IHF inhibited DctD-mediated activation from both of these promoter regulatory regions. IHF also inhibited activation from R. leguminosarum dctA by nitrogen regulatory protein C (NtrC), another activator of $E\sigma^{54}$ but not by one which lacks a specific binding site in this promoter regulatory region. IHF, however, stimulated NtrC-mediated activation from the R. meliloti dctA promoter. Upon removal of the UAS, IHF inhibited NtrC-mediated transcription activation from the R. meliloti dctA promoter regulatory region. These data suggest that IHF likely faciliates productive contacts between the activators NtrC or DctD and $E\sigma^{54}$ to stimulate activation from dctA promoter.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.603-608
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• 1997

Analysis of the 5'-regulatory sequence of the caprine ${\beta}$-lactoglobulin (BLG) gene promoter revealed that two different types of activation were mediated by discrete regions, from -740 to -470 and from -205 to 109, in cultured mammary HC11 cells. Activation mediated by the proximal region was observed regardless of cell growth status. Distal activation, however, was observed only after confluent growth of the cells and was enhanced by the lactogenic hormones. This activation was accompanied by appearance of binding activity of proteins to these regions in the mammary HC11 cells. The binding motifs were broadly distributed over the upstream regulatory sequence. Comparison of the binding regions and mutation analysis suggest that a binding motif homologous to the ${\gamma}$-interferon responsive element (${\gamma}$-IRE) is responsible for transcriptional activation by hormonal induction in the mammary HC11 cells. The multiple ${\gamma}$-IRE homologous motifs seem to play a significant role in enhancing mammary cell-specific activation of the caprine BLG gene.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.341-354
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• 2018

The one of the principles described in ICH E9 is that only results obtained from pre-specified statistical methods in a protocol are regarded as confirmatory evidence. However, in multi-regional clinical trials, even when results obtained from pre-specified statistical methods in protocol are significant, it does not guarantee that the test treatment is approved by regional regulatory agencies. In other words, there is no so-called global approval, and each regional regulatory agency makes its own decision in the face of the same set of data from a multi-regional clinical trial. Under this situation, there are two natural methods a regional regulatory agency can use to estimate the treatment effect in a particular region. The first method is to use the overall treatment estimate, which is to extrapolate the overall result to the region of interest. The second method is to use regional treatment estimate. If the treatment effect is completely identical across all regions, it is obvious that the overall treatment estimator is more efficient than the regional treatment estimator. However, it is not possible to confirm statistically that the treatment effect is completely identical in all regions. Furthermore, some magnitude of regional differences within the range of clinical relevance may naturally exist for various reasons due to, for instance, intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Nevertheless, if the magnitude of regional differences is relatively small, a conventional method to estimate the treatment effect in the region of interest is to extrapolate the overall result to that region. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects produced by this type of extrapolation via estimations, followed by hypothesis testing of the treatment effect in the region of interest. This paper is written from the viewpoint of regional regulatory agencies.