Extracting regulator activity profiles by integration of de novo motifs and expression data: characterizing key regulators of nutrient depletion responses in Streptomyces coelicolor

Determining transcriptional regulator activities is a major focus of systems biology, providing key insight into regulatory mechanisms and co-regulators. For organisms such as Escherichia coli, transcriptional regulator binding site data can be integrated with expression data to infer transcriptional regulator activities. However, for most organisms there is only sparse data on their transcriptional regulators, while their associated binding motifs are largely unknown. Here, we address the challenge of inferring activities of unknown regulators by generating de novo (binding) motifs and integrating with expression data. We identify a number of key regulators active in the metabolic switch, including PhoP with its associated directed repeat PHO box, candidate motifs for two SARPs, a CRP family regulator, an iron response regulator and that for LexA. Experimental validation for some of our predictions was obtained using gel-shift assays. Our analysis is applicable to any organism for which there is a reasonable amount of complementary expression data and for which motifs (either over represented or evolutionary conserved) can be identified in the genome

The use of genomic signature distance between bacteriophages and their hosts displays evolutionary relationships and phage growth cycle determination

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bacteriophage classification is mainly based on morphological traits and genome characteristics combined with host information and in some cases on phage growth lifestyle. A lack of molecular tools can impede more precise studies on phylogenetic relationships or even a taxonomic classification. The use of methods to analyze genome sequences without the requirement for homology has allowed advances in classification.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we proposed to use genome sequence signature to characterize bacteriophages and to compare them to their host genome signature in order to obtain host-phage relationships and information on their lifestyle. We analyze the host-phage relationships in the four most representative groups of Caudoviridae, the dsDNA group of phages. We demonstrate that the use of phage genomic signature and its comparison with that of the host allows a grouping of phages and is also able to predict the host-phage relationships (lytic <it>vs</it>. temperate).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We can thus condense, in relatively simple figures, this phage information dispersed over many publications.</p

Regulation of antibiotic production in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) - analysis of the afsB mutant BH5

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN010521 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Analysis of whole-genome microarray replicates using mixed models

Motivation: Microarray experiments are inherently noisy. Replication is the key to estimating realistic fold-changes despite such noise. In the analysis of the various sources of noise the dependency structure of the replication needs to be taken into account

Large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels in Purkinje cell plasma membranes are clustered at sites of hypolemmal microdomains

Calcium-activated potassium channels have been shown to be critically involved in neuronal function, but an elucidation of their detailed roles awaits identification of the microdomains where they are located. This study was undertaken to unravel the precise subcellular distribution of the large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels (called BK, KCa1.1, or Slo1) in the somatodendritic compartment of cerebellar Purkinje cells by means of postembedding immunogold cytochemistry and SDS-digested freeze-fracture replica labeling (SDS-FRL). We found BK channels to be unevenly distributed over the Purkinje cell plasma membrane. At distal dendritic compartments, BK channels were scattered over the plasma membrane of dendritic shafts and spines but absent from postsynaptic densities. At the soma and proximal dendrites, BK channels formed two distinct pools. One pool was scattered over the plasma membrane, whereas the other pool was clustered in plasma membrane domains overlying subsurface cisterns. The labeling density ratio of clustered to scattered channels was about 60:1, established in SDS-FRL. Subsurface cisterns, also called hypolemmal cisterns, are subcompartments of the endoplasmic reticulum likely representing calciosomes that unload and refill Ca2+ independently. Purkinje cell subsurface cisterns are enriched in inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptors that mediate the effects of several neurotransmitters, hormones, and growth factors by releasing Ca2+ into the cytosol, generating local Ca2+ sparks. Such increases in cytosolic [Ca2+] may be sufficient for BK channel activation. Clustered BK channels in the plasma membrane may thus participate in building a functional unit (plasmerosome) with the underlying calciosome that contributes significantly to local signaling in Purkinje cells. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc