MotifCombinator: a web-based tool to search for combinations of cis-regulatory motifs

Background: A combination of multiple types of transcription factors and cis-regulatory elements is often required for gene expression in eukaryotes, and the combinatorial regulation confers specific gene expression to tissues or environments. To reveal the combinatorial regulation, computational methods are developed that efficiently infer combinations of cis-regulatory motifs that are important for gene expression as measured by DNA microarrays. One promising type of computational method is to utilize regression analysis between expression levels and scores of motifs in input sequences. This type takes full advantage of information on expression levels because it does not require that the expression level of each gene be dichotomized according to whether or not it reaches a certain threshold level. However, there is no web-based tool that employs regression methods to systematically search for motif combinations and that practically handles combinations of more than two or three mot...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Mamoru Kato, Tatsuhiko Tsunoda
• Keywords: BMCBI 2007, Expression Level, Gene Expression, Regression Method