Abstract

Differential gene expression is the primary determinant of numerous biological processes such as cell differentiation, proliferation, organogenesis, tumor progression and apoptosis. In that context, regulatory proteins play pivotal roles and determine cell fate in all physiological conditions of differentiation, development and disease. As these regulatory proteins are present in extremely small amount in cells, their isolation and identification from tissues is impracticable. These regulatory proteins bind to the target sites (DNA elements) located in the promoter, enhancer and other regulatory region of the genome. These target sites control the developmental expression of genes. In the present paper we have isolated and characterized one novel target site (GTGTT) which is developmentally expressed during chick heart development.

Key Words: Novel regulatory target sites, gene expression, promoter, transcription, gene specific transcription factors, bioinformatics, heart, development.

Abbreviation

PIC, Preinitiation complex; TBP, TATA box protein; GSTFs, gene specific transcription factors; NBPs, nucleic acid binding proteins; PCR,polymerase chain reaction; EDTA, ethylenediaminetetraacetic; SDS, sodium dodecyl sulfate; EPD, eukaryotic promoter database.