Tackling the Regulatory Genome

Citation

Brown, Charles Titus (2007) Tackling the Regulatory Genome. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/STPG-0P56. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-12192006-100331

Abstract

The structure of the gene regulatory networks that drive animal development is encoded in the genome in cis-regulatory regions. Locating these regions and understanding how they integrate regulatory information to produce specific spatiotemporal patterns of gene expression is a major challenge facing developmental biology. This thesis presents computational and experimental work on finding, dissecting, and understanding regulatory regions. I discuss the use of comparative sequence analysis or "phylogenetic footprinting" to locate regulatory regions in animals. I then present experimental work on dissecting the information encoded in the cyIIIa cis-regulatory system of the California purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Finally, I present a computational investigation of binding site validation techniques in E.coli.

Thesis Files