TRANSFAC, TRRD (Transcription Regulatory Region Database) and COMPEL are databases which store information about transcriptional regulation in eukaryotic cells. The three databases provide distinct views on the components involved in transcription: transcription factors and their binding sites and binding profiles (TRANSFAC), the regulatory hierarchy of whole genes (TRRD), and the structural and functional properties of composite elements (COMPEL). The quantitative and qualitative changes of all three databases and connected programs are described. The databases are accessible via WWW: http://transfac.gbf.de/TRANSFAC or http://www.bionet.nsc.ru/TRRD

A method has been developed to detect pairs of positions with correlated mutations in protein multiple sequence alignments. The method is based on reconstruction of the phylogenetic tree for a set of sequences and statistical analysis of the distribution of mutations in the branches of the tree. The database of homology-derived protein structures (HSSP) is used as the source of multiple sequence alignments for proteins of known three-dimensional structure. We analyse pairs of positions with correlated mutations in 67 protein families and show quantitatively that the presence of such positions is a typical feature of protein families. A significant but weak tendency is observed for correlated residue pairs to be close in the three-dimensional structure. With further improvements, methods of this type may be useful for the prediction of residue-residue contacts and subsequent prediction of protein structure using distance geometry algorithms. In conclusion, we suggest a new experimental approach to protein structure determination in which selection of functional mutants after random mutagenesis and analysis of correlated mutations provide sufficient proximity constraints for calculation of the protein fold

Long-range chromatin interactions play an important role in transcription regulation. Chromatin Interaction Analysis with Paired-End-Tag sequencing (ChIA-PET) is an emerging technology that has unique advantages in chromatin interaction analysis, and thus provides insight into the study of transcription regulation. This article introduces the experimental protocol and data analysis process of ChIA-PET, as well as discusses some applications using this technology. It also unveils the direction of future studies based on this technology. Overall we show that ChIA-PET is the cornerstone to explore the three-dimensional (3D) chromatin structure, and certainly will lead the forthcoming wave of 3D genomics studies.

Three databases that provide data on transcriptional regulation are described. TRANSFAC is a database on transcription factors and their DNA binding sites. TRRD (Transcription Regulatory Region Database) collects information about complete regulatory regions, their regulation properties and architecture. COMPEL comprises specific information on composite regulatory elements. Here, we describe the present status of these databases and the first steps towards their federation.

Transcription Regulatory Regions Database (TRRD) is an informational resource containing an integrated description of the gene transcription regulation. An entry of the database corresponds to a gene and contains the data on localization and functions of the transcription regulatory regions as well as gene expression patterns. TRRD contains only experimental data that are inputted into the database through annotating scientific publication. TRRD release 6.0 comprises the information on 1167 genes, 5537 transcription factor binding sites, 1714 regulatory regions, 14 locus control regions and 5335 expression patterns obtained through annotating 3898 scientific papers. This information is arranged in seven databases: TRRDGENES (general gene description), TRRDLCR (locus control regions); TRRDUNITS (regulatory regions: promoters, enhancers, silencers, etc.), TRRDSITES (transcription factor binding sites), TRRDFACTORS (transcription factors), TRRDEXP (expression patterns) and TRRDBIB (experimental publications). Sequence Retrieval System (SRS) is used as a basic tool for navigating and searching TRRD and integrating it with external informational and software resources. The visualization tool, TRRD Viewer, provides the information representation in a form of maps of gene regulatory regions. The option allowing nucleotide sequences to be searched for according to their homology using BLAST is also included. TRRD is available at http://www.bionet.nsc.ru/trrd/.