CroAGE - Introducing cap analysis of gene expression (CAGE) to the Croatian research systemas a scaffold for finding anti-tumour targets
Principal investigator
By integrating diverse cellular signals, promoters coordinate gene expression, specifically transcription. As such, these gene regions are crucial for the proper development and health of the organism, just as their mutated versions are critical in tumour growth and spread. However, the details of promoter architecture and how tumours reshape them could only be explored using high-throughput genomic techniques. One method currently unimplemented in Croatian research is the cap analysis of gene expression (CAGE). This method, applied today by only a few top research groups worldwide, identifies the individual nucleotide at which transcription of 5'-GPT-capped transcripts begins, thus illuminating promoter dynamics unsurpassedly. Collaborating with renowned Western European research groups, we will establish a Croatian research group that implements the CAGE method and develop new genomic algorithms for processing the obtained data using machine learning. By applying this method to samples of fish and amphibians, such as zebrafish, Western clawed frog, and axolotl samples, and comparing them to available data for mammals and human tumours, we will uncover comprehensive rules of vertebrate promoter evolution and patterns by which tumours distort them, and thereby new potential anti-tumour targets. Finally, by conducting a market analysis and feasibility study, we will evaluate the market readiness of the newly established resources.