Both Binding Strength and Evolutionary Accessibility Affect the Population Frequency of Transcription Factor Binding Sequences in Arabidopsis thaliana.

ABSTRACT: Mutations in DNA sequences that bind transcription factors and thus modulate gene expression are a source of adaptive variation in gene expression. To understand how transcription factor binding sequences evolve in natural populations of the thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana, we integrated genomic polymorphism data for loci bound by transcription factors with in vitro data on binding affinity for these transcription factors. Specifically, we studied 19 different transcription factors, and the allele frequencies of 8,333 genomic loci bound in vivo by these transcription factors in 1,135 A. thaliana accessions. We find that transcription factor binding sequences show very low genetic diversity, suggesting that they are subject to purifying selection. High frequency alleles of such binding seq

SUBMITTER: Schweizer G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8712246 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature