title: cis-Regulatory control circuits in development.
abstract: During development, an organism undergoes many rounds of pattern formation, generating ever-greater complexity with each ensuing round of cell division and specification. The instructions for executing this process are encoded in the cis-regulatory modules that direct the expression of developmental transcription factors and signaling molecules. Each transcription factor binding site within a cis-regulatory module contributes information about when, where, or how much a gene is turned on, and by dissecting the modules driving a given gene, all the inputs governing expression of the gene can be accurately identified. Furthermore, by mapping the output of each gene to the inputs of other genes, it is possible to reverse engineer developmental circuits and even whole networks. At this higher level of organization, common bilaterian strategies for specifying progenitor fields, locking down regulatory states, and driving development forward emerge.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biology 156-29, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125, USA.
authors.forename: Meredith L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Eric H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Davidson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D008954:Models, Biological; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D011506:Proteins; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012617:Sea Urchins / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C113277:Pha-4 protein, C elegans; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D011506:Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C062236:dl protein, Drosophila; C061515:endo16 protein, sea urchin; C052837:eve protein, Drosophila; D004247:DNA