Analysis of intron sequence features associated with transcriptional regulation in human genes

Although some preliminary work has revealed the potential transcriptional regulatory function of the introns in eukaryotes, additional evidences are needed to support this conjecture. In this study, we perform systemic analyses of the sequence characteristics of human introns. The results show that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-10, Vol.7 (10), p.e46784-e46784
Main Authors: Li, Huimin, Chen, Dan, Zhang, Jing
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Base Sequence
Biology
CpG Islands
Databases, Genetic
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA methylation
Eukaryotes
Gene expression
Gene Expression Regulation
Gene regulation
Genes
Genes - genetics
Genetic aspects
Genetic regulation
Genomes
Genomics
Humans
Introns
Introns - genetics
Laboratories
Mathematics
Nucleotides - genetics
Proteins
Regulatory sequences
Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid - genetics
Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid - genetics
RNA polymerase
RNA splicing
Statistical analysis
Studies
Transcription
Transcription, Genetic
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Summary:Although some preliminary work has revealed the potential transcriptional regulatory function of the introns in eukaryotes, additional evidences are needed to support this conjecture. In this study, we perform systemic analyses of the sequence characteristics of human introns. The results show that the first introns are generally longer and C, G and their dinucleotide compositions are over-represented relative to other introns, which are consistent with the previous findings. In addition, some new phenomena concerned with transcriptional regulation are found: i) the first introns are enriched in CpG islands; and ii) the percentages of the first introns containing TATA, CAAT and GC boxes are relatively higher than other position introns. The similar features of introns are observed in tissue-specific genes. The results further support that the first introns of human genes are likely to be involved in transcriptional regulation, and give an insight into the transcriptional regulatory regions of genes.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0046784