Conserved nucleotide sequences (CNS) were identified by phylogenetic footprinting using the VISTA browser (http://pipeline.lbl.gov/cgi-bin/gateway2). CNS regions were selected in introns and within 15 kb up- and downstream of candidate genes. Genomic sequences of at least four organisms were aligned with the human reference genome. Available genomic sequences included chimpanzee, baboon, rhesus monkey, cow, dog, horse, opossum, mouse, rat, rabbit, chicken, frog, zebrafish, and fugu. Alignments with organisms that are in evolutionary terms either extremely close (chimpanzee, baboon) or not (fugu, zebrafish) were usually less informative. The selection criterion for CNS was a minimum of 70% conservation over at least 100 bp.
