Analyzing Zelda and Other Transcription Factors That Regulating

Ubiquitous and Patterning Genes of Drosophila Melanogaster

Shuyang Wang

School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience, Faculty of Science, University of Queensland,

Brisbane, St Lucia 4072, Australia

Keywords: Transcription Factor, Drosophila Melanogaster, Zelda, Ubiquitous (Class 1) Gene, Patterning (Class 2) Gene.

Abstract: The embryonic developments of many animals are controlled by a series of genes whose counterparts can be

found in human. Therefore, analyzing the molecular nature of these genes is important for extending

understanding of genetic diseases in human. In this research, Drosophila melanogaster was used as the model

organism to analyze how their genes are regulated by different transcription factors during early

developments. Each student was assigned 8 unique genes, their transcription factor binding was subsequently

analyzed with software and online platforms. A gene’s Zelda binding level can be monitored by IGB to

determine whether it’s expressed ubiquitously or regionally. The results also proved that patterning genes and

ubiquitous genes can regulate the transcription levels of each other.

1 INTRODUCTION

Transcription factors are proteins that bind to DNA

strands to control the rate of transcription, the process

in which DNA is used as template to produce RNA

that is required for subsequent production of proteins

(Lambert 2018). The DNA sequences are identical in

all cells of an individual organism. However, DNA

can only influence the organism when it is translated

into particular gene products, proteins. Therefore, the

DNA expression underpinned by sophisticated

transcription factor network determines everything

related to the phenotype and physiological functions

of the organism (Signor, Nuzhdin 2018).

In this project conducted by Professor Christine

Rushlow in New York University, students analyzed

the binding level of different transcription factors for

ubiquitous (Class I) and patterning (Class II) genes of

Drosophila Melanogaster embryos (Alberts 2002).

Drosophila is a very commonly used model organism

in biological science. It’s famous for the low cost and

efficient reproduction (Tolwinski 2017). Drosophila

genes can be assigned into 2 classes. Class 1 genes

have ubiquitous expression over the whole embryo.

Therefore, they are also known as ubiquitously

expressed genes. In comparison, Class 2 genes have

specific expression patterns, they are only expressed

at particular position of the drosophila embryo.

That’s why they are also known as patterning genes.

Zelda is an important transcription factor that

activates zygotic genes by binding to sequences with

TAG base pairs and making the chromatin accessible

for other transcription factors (Ventos-Alfonso, Ylla,

Belles 2019). Zelda is expressed ubiquitously in

embryo due to its overarching function for

transcription. However, its effects to Class 1 and

Class 2 genes are different. For Class 1 genes, it

directly binds to the promoter. Promoter is a DNA

sequence segment that works as the ‘switch’ that

initiating the transcription of the gene

(Mikhaylichenko et al 2018). If the Zelda binds and

turns it on, the gene will be transcribed into RNA

molecules that will further be translated into the gene

product, protein. Otherwise, if Zelda is knocked out

in experiments, no Class 1 genes can be transcribed

as the ‘switches’ are totally turned off. This is

different in Class 2 genes. Zelda will only binds to the

enhancer of the patterning genes to regulate their

transcription levels. Enhancer is a DNA sequence that

recruits different transcription factors to control the

rate of transcription (Zabidi, Stark 2016). Zelda

works as an activator and binds to the enhancer

regions of Class 2 genes to increase the transcription

levels.

Zelda doesn’t control all the transcription

processes by itself. In fact, expression of all genes are

Wang, S.

Analyzing Zelda and Other Transcription Factors That Regulating Ubiquitous and Patterning Genes of Drosophila Melanogaster.

DOI: 10.5220/0011297000003443

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics (ICBEB 2022), pages 817-826

ISBN: 978-989-758-595-1

817

regulated by sophisticated transcription factor

networks. Different transcription factors are recruited

to the promoter and enhancer of a gene and act

synergistically to provide the optimal transcription

level of this gene for embryonic development. Zelda

as well as other important transcription factors are

what we are interested in. In this project, I’ve used

software and data from Professor Christine’s lab to

investigate the transcription regulation of some

typical Drosophila embryonic Class 1 and 2 genes.

Understanding the transcriptional regulation in

Drosophila will enable deeper understanding of

analogous processes in human, which may provide

some key ideas to develop therapies of hereditary

diseases.

2 METHODS

2.1 Integrated Genome Browser (IGB)

Integrated Genome Browser (IGB) is a software that

can use graphs to depict the extents of RNA

transcription and transcription factor binding for all

genes in Drosophila Melanogaster. It also shows us

the position of the genes by indicating the base pair

numbers in each chromosome.

The IGB software was opened. Next, the Species

Drosophila Melanogaster and the 2014 version of

genome was selected. Subsequently, Drosophila data

was then uploaded into the IGB. The data includes:

RNA transcription during 12 and 13 cycle of the

wildtype Drosophila embryonic development into

IGB. The 13 cycle RNA transcription of embryos

with Zelda knocked out. The Zelda binding level data

during the 8 embryonic cycle of the wildtype embryo.

The DNA sequence tag with high affinity to Zelda.

After typing the name or code of the specific gene

(e.g. CG1641/sisA), IGB software depicted the data

as graphs Figure 1, 2. The IGB graphs are used to

distinguish whether the gene belongs to Class 1 or

Class 2. They are also used for analysis in JASPAR

and NCBI websites later.

2.2 National Center for Biotechnology

(NCBI)

NCBI website (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) (NCBI

website https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) is used to

find the DNA sequence at the promoter or enhancer

of specific gene. Choose ‘Gene’ at the search box,

then type the name or code of the gene and search.

Then click ‘FASTA’ to see the whole gene sequence

represented by nitrogen bases (A, T, C, G). The

website also tells us the region of the gene and in

which chromosome the gene is. Finding the nitrogen

base number of the Zelda binding peak shown in IGB

graphs, minus and plus 200 base pairs and click

‘update view’. Then NCBI will show us the 400bp

sequence with Zelda bound. Finally, the 400bp

sequence was copied and pasted into JASPAR

website to identify all transcription factors binding to

this sequence.

2.3 JASPAR Database

JASPAR (JASPAR website 2020), a website used to

find all transcription factors binding to specific

sequence in the genome. At first, Drosophila

Melanogaster was chosen as the organism model in

JASPAR. The 400bp DNA sequence generated in

NCBI was then pasted into JASPAR and scanned.

JASPAR would show all transcription factors bound

to that 400bp region as well as the affinity of binding

indicated by scores. Finally, the JASPAR data was

downloaded as CSV Transcription factors with

binding scores higher than 10 were chosen for

subsequent analysis. These extracted transcription

factors were shown in Table 1,2,3,4.

2.4 Berkeley Drosophila Genome

Project (BDGP)

BDGP website (https://insitu.fruitfly.org/cgi-

bin/ex/insitu.pl)(BDGP website) is used to find

expression patterns of Class 1 and Class 2 genes to

monitor where a particular gene is expressed in the

embryo Figure 5.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Integrated Genome Browser (IGB)

Results

According to the IGB results of Class 1 genes shown

in Figure 1 and patterning genes shown in Figure 2,

the transcription of Class 1 genes except

CG4261/term changed to 0 if Zelda is knocked out.

However, the transcription of patterning genes only

reduced instead of disappearing when Zelda was

knocked out.

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Figure 1: IGB results of Class 1 (ubiquitous) genes.

CG1641/sisA at Chromosome X, CG15480 at

Chromosome 2L and CG4261/term at Chromosome

3L. The X-axis shows the genomic position of the

chromosome in base pair. The black bar with an

arrow at one end represents the sisA gene and the

arrow shows the orientation of the gene. The blue and

green graph shows the RNA transcript levels in cycle

12 and cycle 13 respectively in wild type embryos of

Drosophila Melanogaster. The pink graph shows the

cycle 13 RNA level in fruit fly embryos whose Zelda

genes are knocked out. In contrast to these 3 graphs,

the orange graph reveals the level of Zelda binding,

instead of RNA. The Zelda binding tags,

CAGGTAG, are represented by the brown dashes

below the Zelda binding level graph. At the promoter

of gene sisA, 2 Zelda binding peaks were identified.

Figure 2: IGB results of patterning (Class2) genes.

CG2411/ptc at Chromosome 2R and CG4889/wg

at Chromosome 2L. All graphs represent the same

variables as mentioned in Figure 1. The dash line in

the gene black bar indicates the introns of the gene.

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3.2 Transcription Factors Bound

around the Zelda Binding Peaks of

Class 1 Gene CG1641/Sisa

Figure 3. shows the Zelda binding levels at the

promoter region of CG1641/sisA in Chromosome X.

The transcription factor binding levels around the 2

Zelda binding peaks are shown by Table 1. and

Table 2. According to these two tables, Zelda (vfl)

and Kr bound at the highest level. 5 binding

sequences for Zelda and 4 binding sequences for Kr.

Kr binding regions are highly overlapped.

Transcription factors zen2, bcd, cad dl were also

found at high level around Zelda binding peak.

Figure 3: Zelda binding peaks at the promoter region of Class 1 gene CG1641/sisA.

This figure incorporates 2 screenshots of the IGB

graph result of the Class 1 ubiquitous gene

CG1641/sisA. 2 Zelda binding peaks are shown in a.

and b. respectively. The vertical grey lines show the

approximate Zelda binding peaks, together with grey

highlighted numbers representing the exact locations

of peaks in Chromosome X of Drosophila

melanogaster.

Table 1: Binding levels of different transcription factors around the Zelda binding peak 11322461 (Figure 3a.) in promoter

region of CG1641/sisA.

Name Score Relative score Start End Strand Predicted sequence

vfl 14.1057 0.99878905 139 150 + ATGCAGGTAGGC

slp1 13.9241 0.992220694 104 114 + TTGTTTACATA

vfl 13.6419 0.989526395 257 268 - CCGCAGGTAGCT

D 12.7559 0.943674382 41 51 + CCTTTTGTTTT

vfl 12.7267 0.971251085 66 77 + TATCAGGTAGAC

cad 12.3672 0.939626548 186 196 + GATCATAAATC

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dve 12.1441 0.985360611 95 102 + CTAATCCC

fkh 12.0097 0.935520664 105 115 + TGTTTACATAT

D 11.61 0.915055081 100 110 + CCCTTTGTTTA

11.5272 0.999999983 61 67 + CCAATTA

10.8198 0.880272744 94 107 + CCTAATCCCTTTGT

10.7731 0.875449066 42 55 - TTTAAAAACAAAAG

sna 10.7449 0.886467281 30 42 - GGATCAGGTGCGA

sna 10.7444 1.000000017 33 38 - CAGGTG

10.703 0.889807779 96 106 - CAAAGGGATTA

nub 10.699 0.848601417 103 114 - TATGTAAACAAA

Ptx1 10.654 0.955186943 95 101 + CTAATCC

r(var.4) 10.651 0.925211296 103 113 - ATGTAAACAAA

cd 10.5191 0.999999998 96 101 + TAATCC

CG11617 10.4776 0.959704496 107 113 + TTTACAT

Table 2: Binding levels of different transcription factors around the Zelda binding peak 11323012 (Figure 3b.) in promoter

region of CG1641/sisA.

Name Score Relative score Start End Strand Predicted sequence

16.3492 0.96373581 16 29 + TTTAACCCTTTGAG

14.8762 0.96410016 253 263 - TATCGATTGCC

BEAF-32 14.0397 0.94023386 256 270 - ACACCAATATCGATT

vfl 13.698 0.99064777 239 250 + TAGCAGGTAGCA

Dref 13.3379 0.95960864 256 265 - AATATCGATT

BEAF-32 13.0371 0.93733098 254 265 + GCAATCGATATT

BEAF-32 13.0371 0.93733098 254 265 - AATATCGATTGC

EcR::usp 12.9829 0.91055415 40 54 + CAGGTCGCTGAACCC

vfl 12.6211 0.96914093 176 187 - CATCAGGTAGCC

12.5593 0.93659564 18 28 - TCAAAGGGTTA

cnc::maf-S 12.2768 0.91497239 355 369 - AATGAGTCAACAAAT

Lim1 12.2032 1.00000002 79 85 + TTAATTA

Lim1 12.2032 1.00000002 80 86 - TTAATTA

al 12.1468 1 79 85 - TAATTAA

al 12.1468 1 80 86 + TAATTAA

zen2 10.5275 1 79 85 + TTAATTA

zen2 10.5275 1 80 86 - TTAATTA

cd 10.5191 1 115 120 + TAATCC

dl 10.1277 0.86361398 188 199 - GTGGGTTTCCCG

3.3 Transcription Factors Bound

around the Zelda Binding Peaks of

Class 2 Gene CG2411/Ptc

Distinguishable with Zelda binding in Class 1 gene

sisA, Zelda bound to the intron region of the

patterning gene ptc as shown in Figure 4. The Zelda

binding peaks in ptc are separate instead of merged

together like that in sisA Figure 3. Shown by Table

3. and Table 4., Zelda was still found at high level of

binding. However, the transcription factor with

highest binding score at the 8656150bp peak is Trl as

shown in Table 3. Zen, bcd, and sna were also found

at high level around another Zelda binding peak at

8657916bp as shown in Table 4.

Analyzing Zelda and Other Transcription Factors That Regulating Ubiquitous and Patterning Genes of Drosophila Melanogaster

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Figure 4: Zelda binding peaks at the enhancer region of Class 2 gene CG2411/ptc.

This figure incorporates 2 screenshots of the IGB

graph result of the Class 2 patterning gene

CG2411/ptc. 2 Zelda binding peaks are shown in a.

and b. respectively. The vertical grey lines show the

approximate Zelda binding peaks, together with grey

highlighted numbers representing the exact locations

of peaks in Chromosome 2R of Drosophila

melanogaster.

Table 3. Binding levels of different transcription factors around the Zelda binding peak 8656150 (Figure 4a.) in enhancer

region of CG2411/ptc.

Name Score Relative score Start End Strand Predicted sequence

Dsp1 15.9438 0.89694906 334 350 + CCAGAGAGAGAGGGAAG

Trl 15.0939 0.95595682 335 346 + CAGAGAGAGAGG

trx 13.4605 0.925088 336 347 + AGAGAGAGAGGG

Trl 13.234 0.92390239 337 348 + GAGAGAGAGGGA

trx 13.1356 0.9188802 338 349 + AGAGAGAGGGAA

vfl 12.2447 0.96162557 195 206 + GGCCAGGTAGGT

Trl 11.9072 0.90103495 333 344 + TCCAGAGAGAGA

Clamp 11.3008 0.83709098 335 348 + CAGAGAGAGAGGGA

exd 11.2783 1 320 327 + TTTTGACA

Clamp 11.2424 0.83616404 337 350 + GAGAGAGAGGGAAG

11.1682 0.88585636 230 243 + ATAATAAAGAAATT

Trl 11.0052 0.9572637 337 346 - CCTCTCTCTC

r(var.4) 11.0036 0.93649654 231 241 + TAATAAAGAAA

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sna 10.8157 0.8877825 387 399 - GCGCCAGGTGCAA

vfl 10.754 0.93185675 181 192 - CCACAGGTACAC

sna 10.7444 1.00000002 275 280 + CAGGTG

sna 10.7444 1.00000002 390 395 - CAGGTG

10.5332 0.98996876 393 400 + CTGGCGCT

10.4452 0.89460235 212 222 + TTTCGATTTTC

trx 10.4392 0.86735332 334 345 + CCAGAGAGAGAG

cad 10.4102 0.99753146 231 237 - TTTATTA

Stat92E 10.3244 0.85034053 39 53 + CGGAATTCACTGAAA

achi 10.2395 1 323 328 + TGACAG

Trl 10.1298 0.93081651 335 344 - TCTCTCTCTG

cad 10.0542 0.90889508 229 239 + AATAATAAAGA

Trl 10.0349 0.92794765 339 348 - TCCCTCTCTC

Table 4. Binding levels of different transcription factors around the Zelda binding peak 8657916 (Figure 4b.) in enhancer

region of CG2411/ptc.

Name Score Relative score Start End Strand Predicted sequence

vfl 13.955 0.99578006 105 116 - GTGCAGGTAGAC

sna 13.4007 0.93574936 111 123 - ACAGCAGGTGCAG

cad 12.3672 0.93962655 369 379 + GATCATAAATC

Ptx1 11.9592 0.99999999 238 244 - TTAATCC

dve 11.958 0.98124624 237 244 - TTAATCCG

CG11617 11.6102 1 19 25 - TTAACAT

nub 11.6076 0.86929265 18 29 + TATGTTAATCTG

11.5299 0.89574444 307 317 + AACAGCAGCAA

zen 11.0907 0.99999999 283 289 + CTAATGA

slp1 10.8339 0.91503434 130 140 + CTGTTTTCGTT

onecu

10.8156 0.99999999 375 381 - TTGATTT

sna 10.7444 1.00000002 114 119 - CAGGTG

cd 10.5191 1 238 243 - TAATCC

10.4198 0.96683999 283 289 + CTAATGA

oc 10.3923 1.00000001 238 243 - TAATCC

Abd-B 10.3839 1.00000001 371 377 - TTTATGA

so 10.3258 1.00000001 79 84 + TGATAC

10.3115 0.97777242 283 289 + CTAATGA

dl 10.2963 0.8678453 352 363 - CGGGGTTTCCTA

pb 10.2789 0.98339042 283 289 + CTAATGA

Gsc 10.1656 1 238 243 - TAATCC

nub 10.1448 0.83598283 34 45 + TATTTAAAATCG

3.4 Gene Expression Patterns

Figure 5. shows that Trithorax-like gene (Trl) and

Dorsal switch protein 1 (Dsp1) are expressed evenly

through the whole embryo. However, sna gene only

has perceptible level of expression in mesoderm at

the ventral side of the embryo.

Analyzing Zelda and Other Transcription Factors That Regulating Ubiquitous and Patterning Genes of Drosophila Melanogaster

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Figure 5. The gene expression results indicated by purple staining from Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project (BDGP).

The purple staining indicates the gene expression

during embryonic cycles 4 – 6. The darker the color,

the higher the expression level. The embryo shows

white instead of purple if there’s no expression. The

names of the genes are labelled below the images of

each gene.

4 DISCUSSIONS

In most cases, IGB graphs are reliable for us to

distinguish Class 1 and Class 2 genes. Comparing

graphs in Figure 1 with those in Figure 2, it is

obvious that the Class 1 gene transcription is

thoroughly turned off when Zelda is knocked out.

This is because Zelda binds to the promoter region of

the ubiquitous Class 1 gene to switch on the

transcription. That’s why removal of Zelda will

completely turn off the transcription of the gene and

make the RNA level reduced to zero. However, some

RNA molecules are still produced in CG4261/term

Figure 1. This is attributable to incomplete knockout

of Zelda. In comparison, Zelda binds to the enhancer

region of the patterning genes (CG2411/ptc and

CG4889/wg) Figure 2. In this case, Zelda works as

an activator and binds to the enhancer to stimulate the

transcription activity and produce more RNA

products. Therefore, the knockout of Zelda in

patterning genes will only reduce the amounts of

RNA transcribed instead of totally turned the

transcription off. Patterning gene promoters are

controlled by there own transcription factors. Another

obvious phenomenon in the IGB results is that Zelda

binding peaks are fused together at the promoter part

nearby the start of the Class 1 genes Figure 1.

However, in patterning genes Figure 2, Zelda peaks

are separate and they situate at the intron region of the

gene. This is another reliable property for us to

distinguish ubiquitous Class 1 genes from patterning

genes.

The JASPER result of CG1641/sisA in Table 1.

shows that Zelda (vfl) has the highest binding score

in the promoter region of sisA shown in Figure 3.

The binding sequence with the highest score contains

CAGGTAG, a common tag with high affinity to

Zelda. Zelda is an essential transcription factor for

early development of embryo (He et al 2019). It

enables the transcription of ubiquitous genes by

binding to the promoter and switching on the

transcription. That’s why Zelda can be found at such

high level here. Kruppel (Kr) is also found at high

binding score around the sisA gene’s Zelda binding

promoter region. This is a patterning gene that plays

an integral role in the segmentation of the embryo. In

contrast to ubiquitous genes, Kruppel’s expression is

uneven in the whole embryo. It is expressed in the

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nervous and muscular system of the embryo and

regulates the thoracic and abdominal development.

Caudal (cad) is another patterning gene that is

responsible for anterior/posterior determination of the

embryo. Bicoid (bcd) is the transcription factor that

binds to the promoter of hunchback (hb), a patterning

gene expressed at head and tail of the embryo. Dorsal

(dl) is another patterning gene that has an expression

gradient that decreases as going from the ventral side

to the dorsal side. Which means dorsal expression is

highest at the mesoderm of the embryo’s ventral part

and close to zero at the embryo’s dorsal side.

Zerknullt (zen) expression can be inhibited by any

level of dorsal gene product, that’s why it’s a

patterning gene which can only be found at the dorsal

part of the embryo. CG1641/sisA is an ubiquitous

Class 1 gene whose expression is theoretically evenly

distributed through the whole embryo. However, it is

regulated by so many patterning genes that are

expressed at different parts of the embryo. This

further demonstrated that sisA can be found at

anywhere of the embryo. What’s more important is

that due to the regulation of so many patterning

transcription factors (Kr, cad, bcd, dl, zen), sisA

expression level is uneven across the whole embryo.

Therefore, Class 1 genes’ expression should be

everywhere in the embryo if the Zelda is functional

but the expression levels are diverse at different area

caused by the regulation of patterning gene products.

The JASPER result of the patterning gene,

CG2411/ptc, shown in Figure 4. and Table 3.4., also

indicates high level of Zelda binding. However, in

this case, Zelda binds to the enhancer of the gene to

increase the expression level instead of completely

controlling the switch on/off of the transcription.

Around the 8656150bp Zelda binding peak shown by

Figure 4a, there is also very high level binding of

Trithorax-like gene (Trl) (Table 3). The Trl gene

product is a transcription factor for chromatin

modification. Trl has even higher binding score to ptc

than Zelda. According to the expression patterning

shown in Figure 5, Trl is an ubiquitous Class 1 gene.

However the transcription factor with the highest

binding score here is Dorsal switch protein 1 (Dsp1)

according to Table 3. This transcription factor prefer

to bind a single strand of DNA molecules and

subsequently unwind the double-stranded DNA. It is

an ubiquitous gene according to the BDGP data

shown in Figure 5. It makes sense as all genes in the

embryo can only be transcribed after the double-

stranded DNA is unwound. CG2411/ptc has

patterning expression through the whole embryo, but

it is regulated by high level of ubiquitous gene

products such as Trl and Dsp1 situated at its enhancer

region. This demonstrated that Class 2 genes’

expression is also controlled by many Class 1 genes.

The reason might be that Class 1 genes have generic

functions required for transcription of all genes, the

unwinding function of Dsp1 is an example.

Therefore, no matter the gene’s expression is

patterning or ubiquitous, its transcription is regulated

by many ubiquitous Class 1 genes. The second Zelda

binding peak on CG2411/ptc is at 8657916bp and

shown by Figure 4b. In the 400bp region around this

peak, zen, bcd, and dl are also found at high level

according to Table 4. These three patterning genes

are mentioned above. Another transcription factor

found at high score is snail (sna), a patterning gene

that is essential for mesoderm development. Sna is

activated by high level dl and is expressed in

mesoderm at the ventral side of the embryo shown in

Figure 5. Sna is also found at high level around the

8656150bp Zelda binding peak represented by

Figure 4a. Although there’s no data of ptc’s

expression pattern in BDGP, we can estimate its

pattern according to the patterns of the patterning

gene which regulate its transcription. dl and sna are

expressed at mesoderm. Bicoid (bcd) is quite

important for head development and is expressed at

highest concentration in head. zen can only be found

at dorsal side of the embryo because of the inhibition

by dl. Therefore, we can estimate that ptc is expressed

mainly at the head, ventral and dorsal part of the

embryo.

5 CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, graphs from IGB are reliable tools to

determine whether a Drosophila gene is Class 1

(ubiquitous) or Class 2 (patterning). According to

JASPAR data of the Class 1 CG1641/sisA and Class

2 CG2411/ptc, Class 1 gene is totally controlled by

Zelda that switch it on or off by directly binding to

the promoter. However, Zelda is not the only factor

controlling the Class 1 gene transcription. On the one

hand, there are many patterning gene transcription

factors that regulate the transcription level of the

Class 1 gene. That’s why the theoretically ubiquitous

expression level of Class 1 gene is actually uneven

across the embryo. On the other hand, Class 2 genes

are also regulated by ubiquitous Class 1 gene

products because some functions of these

ubiquitously expressed products can influence the

transcription rates of all genes in the organism. This

research, underpinned by powerful software and

pioneering databases, revealed the complexity of

genes’ network during early development of animals.

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It also uncovered the essentiality of biotechnology

and modern data science to further researches in

genetics. All participated students were given

fascinating insight into the future of genetics.

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