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SCIENCE AT THE EDGE SEMINAR QBI/GEDD Friday, March 19 at 11:30am Room 1400 Biomedical and Physical Sciences Bldg. Refreshments at 11:15 Martha Bulyk Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA Transcription Factor-DNA Interactions: cis Regulatory Codes in the Genome The interactions between transcription factors (TFs) and their DNA binding sites are an integral part of the regulatory networks within cells. Identification of the DNA binding specificities of sequence-specific TFs is important for understanding transcriptional regulatory networks, in particular for the prediction of cis regulatory modules (e.g., transcriptional enhancers), inference of cis regulatory codes, and interpretation of in vivo TF occupancy data and gene expression data. Using highly parallel in vitro technology developed in my group termed universal protein binding microarrays (PBMs), we have characterized the sequence specificities of DNA-protein interactions at high resolution for >500 TFs from a wide range of species. These data have permitted us to identify novel TFs and their functions, to investigate how TFs interact with their target sites in vivo, and to identify features of transcriptional enhancers important for driving appropriate gene expression patterns in metazoans. We anticipate that further analyses of closely related TFs and the cis regulatory elements in which their binding sites occur will reveal additional features of cis regulatory codes and how TFs within gene families diverge to acquire new DNA binding specificities and functions. Helen Geiger Administrative Assistant Quantitative Biology Initiative/ Gene Expression in Development & Disease Michigan State University 502B Biochemistry Building East Lansing, MI 48824 Phone: (517) 432-9895 Fax: (517) 353-9334 E-mail: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Web: http://qbmi.msu.edu<http://qbmi.msu.edu/> http://www.bch.msu.edu/GEDD/index.htm<http://www.bch.msu.edu/GEDD/MSU-TRSB-Symposium.htm>