中国生物工程杂志

Objective To construct transcription regulatory network of liver-selective transcription factors(LSTF). Methods Tissue-selective Affymetrix probes set (3919 probes all together) were classified based on their functional categories. LSTF genes were then selected for further analysis. The 500-bp upstream sequences of all LSTF genes were extracted for predicting binding sites of known transcription factors (TFs). Transcription regulatory network was constructed using LSTF and related TFs as input. Results Four LSTF genes were obtained from functional classification and tissue selectivity screen, which share 4 upstream TFs in common as predicted by two programs. Transcription regulatory network among LSTF, predicted TFs and some other related genes demonstrates a fairly complicated topology, with ID2 and PROX1 centering in the network. Conclusions Based on existing literatures, we argue that ID2 and PROX1 genes may play important role in regulating LSTF genes transcription, because they are involved in hepatocyte growth and differentiation, etc.