Evaluation of cis-regulatory function in zebrafish

As increasing numbers of vertebrate genomes are sequenced, comparative genomics offers tremendous promise to unveil mechanisms of transcriptional gene regulation on a large scale. However, the challenge of analysing immense amounts of sequence data and relating primary sequence to function is daunting. Several teleost species occupy crucial niches in the world of comparative genomics, as experimental model organisms of wide utility and living roadmaps of molecular evolution. Extant species have evolved after a teleost-specific genome duplication, and offer the opportunity to examine the evolution of thousands of duplicate gene pairs. Transgenesis in zebrafish is being increasingly employed to functionally examine non-coding sequences, from fish and mammals. Here, we discuss current approaches to the study of gene regulation in teleosts, and the promise of future research.