Deciphering the transcriptional regulation of microRNA genes in humans with ACTLocater.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the transcriptional regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) is extremely important for determining the specific roles they play in signaling cascades. However, precise identification of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) orchestrating the expressions of miRNAs remains a challenge. By combining accessible chromatin sequences of 12 cell types released by the ENCODE Project, we found that a significant fraction (~80%) of such integrated sequences, evolutionary conserved and in regions upstream of human miRNA genes that are independently transcribed, were preserved across cell types. Accordingly, we developed a computational method, Accessible and Conserved TFBSs Locater (ACTLocater), incorporating this chromatin feature and evolutionary conservation to identify the TFBSs associ

SUBMITTER: Xiao ZD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3592406 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature