Analysis of intron sequence features associated with transcriptional regulation in human genes.
Although some preliminary work has revealed the potential transcriptional regulatory function of the introns in eukaryotes, additional evidences are needed to support this conjecture. In this study, we perform systemic analyses of the sequence characteristics of human introns. The results show that the first introns are generally longer and C, G and their dinucleotide compositions are over-represented relative to other introns, which are consistent with the previous findings. In addition, some new phenomena concerned with transcriptional regulation are found: i) the first introns are enriched in CpG islands; and ii) the percentages of the first introns containing TATA, CAAT and GC boxes are relatively higher than other position introns. The similar features of introns are observed in tissue-specific genes. The results further support that the first introns of human genes are likely to be involved in transcriptional regulation, and give an insight into the transcriptional regulatory regions of genes.
Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-resources, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
Huimin
H
Li
Dan
D
Chen
Jing
J
Zhang
D001483:Base Sequence; D018899:CpG Islands; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics*; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000235:genetics; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D009711:Nucleotides