Transcription factor binding predicts histone modifications in human cell lines
Abstract
The regulation of gene expression is fundamental to biology and is classically predicated on binding of transcription factor proteins to DNA. This view is challenged by large-scale studies correlating gene expression with posttranslational modifications of the histone proteins with which DNA is complexed in cells. Here, we show through a large-scale computational study that histone modifications can be predicted with remarkable accuracy from transcription factor-binding profiles, recapitulating known interactions between transcription factors and chromatin-modifying enzymes. Our results demonstrate that associations between gene expression and histone modifications do not necessarily imply a direct regulatory role for these modifications, but can be explained equally well as an indirect effect of interactions between transcription factors and chromatin-modifying enzymes.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- September 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1412081111
- Bibcode:
- 2014PNAS..11113367B