Sequencing and comparison of yeast species to identify genes and regulatory elements.
Identifying the functional elements encoded in a genome is one of the principal challenges in modern biology. Comparative genomics should offer a powerful, general approach. Here, we present a comparative analysis of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae based on high-quality draft sequences of three related species (S. paradoxus, S. mikatae and S. bayanus). We first aligned the genomes and characterized their evolution, defining the regions and mechanisms of change. We then developed methods for direct identification of genes and regulatory motifs. The gene analysis yielded a major revision to the yeast gene catalogue, affecting approximately 15% of all genes and reducing the total count by about 500 genes. The motif analysis automatically identified 72 genome-wide elements, including most known regulatory motifs and numerous new motifs. We inferred a putative function for most of these motifs, and provided insights into their combinatorial interactions. The results have implications for genome analysis of diverse organisms, including the human.
Whitehead/MIT Center for Genome Research, Nine Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. manoli@mit.edu
Manolis
M
Kellis
Nick
N
Patterson
Matthew
M
Endrizzi
Bruce
B
Birren
Eric S
ES
Lander
D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D005800:Genes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D020218:Response Elements / Q000235:genetics; D012440:Saccharomyces / Q000235:genetics*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C052130:GAL4 protein, S cerevisiae; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors