QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online October 23, 2009
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.033449

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary Material Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Skowronska-Krawczyk, D. Articles by Matter, J.-M. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Skowronska-Krawczyk, D. Articles by Matter, J.-M. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Conserved regulatory sequences in Atoh7 mediate non-conserved regulatory responses in retina ontogenesis

Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk^1,,,*, Florence Chiodini^2,, Martin Ebeling³, Christine Alliod¹, Adam Kundzewicz^1,2, Diogo Castro⁴, Marc Ballivet¹, François Guillemot⁴, Lidia Matter-Sadzinski^1,2 and Jean-Marc Matter^1,2,*

¹ Department of Biochemistry, Sciences II, University of Geneva, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland.
² Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland.
³ Bioinformatics, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel 4070, Switzerland.
⁴ Division of Molecular Neurobiology, National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK.

^* Authors for correspondence (dkrawczyk{at}ucsd.edu; Jean-Marc.Matter{at}unige.ch)

Accepted 10 September 2009

The characterisation of interspecies differences in gene regulation is crucial to understanding the molecular basis of phenotypic diversity and evolution. The atonal homologue Atoh7 participates in the ontogenesis of the vertebrate retina. Our study reveals how evolutionarily conserved, non-coding DNA sequences mediate both the conserved and the species-specific transcriptional features of the Atoh7 gene. In the mouse and chick retina, species-related variations in the chromatin-binding profiles of bHLH transcription factors correlate with distinct features of the Atoh7 promoters and underlie variations in the transcriptional rates of the Atoh7 genes. The different expression kinetics of the Atoh7 genes generate differences in the expression patterns of a set of genes that are regulated by Atoh7 in a dose-dependent manner, including those involved in neurite outgrowth and growth cone migration. In summary, we show how highly conserved regulatory elements are put to use in mediating non-conserved functions and creating interspecies neuronal diversity.

Key words: Ath5, Neurogenin 2, Trans-acting environment, Chicken, Mouse, Retinal ganglion cells

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?