Networks controlling gene expression serve as key decision-making circuits in cells, but the regulatory networks that control dynamic and specific gene expression responses to stimuli are often not well understood. This is particularly true for immune dendritic cells (DCs), which respond to pathogens by mounting elaborate transcriptional responses and are centrally involved in infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and vaccines. Amit et al. explored the transcriptional response of dendritic cells to specific classes of pathogens. The transcriptional subnetworks responsible for mammalian dendritic cell responses to different pathogens were identified, and the function of 100 regulators was clarified.
I. Amit, M. Garber, N. Chevrier, A. P. Leite, Y. Donner, T. Eisenhaure, M. Guttman, J. K. Grenier, W. Li, O. Zuk, L. A. Schubert, B. Birditt, T. Shay, A. Goren, X. Zhang, Z. Smith, R. Deering, R. C. McDonald, M. Cabili, B. E. Bernstein, J. L. Rinn, A. Meissner, D. E. Root, N. Hacohen, A. Regev, Unbiased reconstruction of a mammalian transcriptional network mediating the differential response to pathogens. Science 326, 257–263 (2009).[Abstract] [Full Text]
