Hazony, YehonathanLu, JunSt. Hilaire, CynthiaRavid, Katya2012-01-112012-01-112006-08-26Hazony, Yehonathan, Jun Lu, Cynthia St. Hilaire, Katya Ravid. "Hematopoietic gene promoters subjected to a group-combinatorial study of DNA samples: identification of a megakaryocytic selective DNA signature" Nucleic Acids Research 34(16): 4416-4428. (2006)1362-4962https://hdl.handle.net/2144/3225Identification of common sub-sequences for a group of functionally related DNA sequences can shed light on the role of such elements in cell-specific gene expression. In the megakaryocytic lineage, no one single unique transcription factor was described as linage specific, raising the possibility that a cluster of gene promoter sequences presents a unique signature. Here, the megakaryocytic gene promoter group, which consists of both human and mouse 5′ non-coding regions, served as a case study. A methodology for group-combinatorial search has been implemented as a customized software platform. It extracts the longest common sequences for a group of related DNA sequences and allows for single gaps of varying length, as well as double- and multiple-gap sequences. The results point to common DNA sequences in a group of genes that is selectively expressed in megakaryocytes, and which does not appear in a large group of control, random and specific sequences. This suggests a role for a combination of these sequences in cell-specific gene expression in the megakaryocytic lineage. The data also point to an intrinsic cross-species difference in the organization of 5′ non-coding sequences within the mammalian genomes. This methodology may be used for the identification of regulatory sequences in other lineages.enArticle10.1093/nar/gkl578169363101636359