DNA-binding specificity changes in the evolution of forkhead transcription factors.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks entails the expansion and diversification of transcription factor (TF) families. The forkhead family of TFs, defined by a highly conserved winged helix DNA-binding domain (DBD), has diverged into dozens of subfamilies in animals, fungi, and related protists. We have used a combination of maximum-likelihood phylogenetic inference and independent, comprehensive functional assays of DNA-binding capacity to explore the evolution of DNA-binding specificity within the forkhead family. We present converging evidence that similar alternative sequence preferences have arisen repeatedly and independently in the course of forkhead evolution. The vast majority of DNA-binding specificity changes we observed are not explained by alterations in the kno

SUBMITTER: Nakagawa S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3725104 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature