Logic functions of the genomic cis-regulatory code

Abstract

cis-Regulatory modules that control developmental gene expression process the regulatory inputs provided by the transcription factors for which they contain specific target sites. A prominent class of cis-regulatory processing functions can be modeled as logic operations. Many of these are combinatorial because they are mediated by multiple sites, although others are unitary. In this work, we illustrate the repertoire of cis-regulatory logic operations, as an approach toward a functional interpretation of the genomic regulatory code.