title: Conserved non-coding elements and cis regulation: actions speak louder than words.
abstract: It is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged that conserved non-coding genomic sequences function in the cis regulation of neighbouring genes. But is this a misconception? The literature is strewn with examples of conserved non-coding sequences being able to drive reporter expression, but the extent to which such sequences are actually used endogenously in vivo is only now being rigorously explored using unbiased genome-scale approaches. Here, we review the emerging picture, examining the extent to which conserved non-coding sequences equivalently regulate gene expression in different species, or at different developmental stages, and how genomics approaches are revealing the relationship between sequence conservation and functional use of cis-regulatory elements.
authors.affiliation: Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, New Hunt's House, King's College London, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK. andrew.nelson@path.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: Andrew C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Fiona C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Wardle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D010802:Phylogeny; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D021901:DNA, Intergenic