Detection of DNA structural motifs in functional genomic elements

Noncanonical binding of transcription factors: time to revisit specificity?

Transcription factors (TFs) are one of the most studied classes of DNA-binding proteins that have a direct functional impact on gene transcription and thus, on human physiology and disease. The mechanisms that TFs use for recognizing target DNA binding sites have been studied for nearly five decades, yet they remain poorly understood. It is classically assumed that a TF recognizes a specific sequence pattern, or motif, as its binding sites. However, recent studies are consistently finding examples of noncanonical binding, that is, TFs binding at sites that do not resemble their sequence motifs. Here we review the current literature on four major types of noncanonical TF binding, namely binding based on DNA shape readout, at Guanine-quadruplex structures, at repeat sequences, and bispecific binding. These examples point to a critical need for studies to unify our current observations, many of which are at odds with the "one TF, one motif" view, into a more comprehensive definition of the DNA-binding specificity of TFs.

A De Novo Shape Motif Discovery Algorithm Reveals Preferences of Transcription Factors for DNA Shape Beyond Sequence Motifs

DNA shape adds specificity to sequence motifs but has not been explored systematically outside this context. We hypothesized that DNA-binding proteins (DBPs) preferentially occupy DNA with specific structures ("shape motifs") regardless of whether or not these correspond to high information content sequence motifs. We present ShapeMF, a Gibbs sampling algorithm that identifies de novo shape motifs. Using binding data from hundreds of in vivo and in vitro experiments, we show that most DBPs have shape motifs and can occupy these in the absence of sequence motifs. This "shape-only binding" is common for many DBPs and in regions co-bound by multiple DBPs. When shape and sequence motifs co-occur, they can be overlapping, flanking, or separated by consistent spacing. Finally, DBPs within the same protein family have different shape motifs, explaining their distinct genome-wide occupancy despite having similar sequence motifs. These results suggest that shape motifs not only complement sequence motifs but also facilitate recognition of DNA beyond conventionally defined sequence motifs.

Genome-wide analysis of transcription factor binding sites and their characteristic DNA structures

Background

Transcription factors (TF) regulate gene expression by binding DNA regulatory regions. Transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) are conserved not only in primary DNA sequences but also in DNA structures. However, the global relationship between TFs and their preferred DNA structures remains to be elucidated.

Results

In this paper, we have developed a computational method to generate a genome-wide landscape of TFs and their characteristic binding DNA structures in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We revealed DNA structural features for different TFs. The structural conservation shows positional preference in TFBSs. Structural levels of DNA sequences are correlated with TF-DNA binding affinities.

Conclusions

We provided the genome-wide correspondences of TFs to DNA structures. Our findings will have implications in understanding TF regulatory mechanisms.

GBshape: a genome browser database for DNA shape annotations

Many regulatory mechanisms require a high degree of specificity in protein-DNA binding. Nucleotide sequence does not provide an answer to the question of why a protein binds only to a small subset of the many putative binding sites in the genome that share the same core motif. Whereas higher-order effects, such as chromatin accessibility, cooperativity and cofactors, have been described, DNA shape recently gained attention as another feature that fine-tunes the DNA binding specificities of some transcription factor families. Our Genome Browser for DNA shape annotations (GBshape; freely available at http://rohslab.cmb.usc.edu/GBshape/) provides minor groove width, propeller twist, roll, helix twist and hydroxyl radical cleavage predictions for the entire genomes of 94 organisms. Additional genomes can easily be added using the GBshape framework. GBshape can be used to visualize DNA shape annotations qualitatively in a genome browser track format, and to download quantitative values of DNA shape features as a function of genomic position at nucleotide resolution. As biological applications, we illustrate the periodicity of DNA shape features that are present in nucleosome-occupied sequences from human, fly and worm, and we demonstrate structural similarities between transcription start sites in the genomes of four Drosophila species.

Role of DNA sequence based structural features of promoters in transcription initiation and gene expression

Regulatory information for transcription initiation is present in a stretch of genomic DNA, called the promoter region that is located upstream of the transcription start site (TSS) of the gene. The promoter region interacts with different transcription factors and RNA polymerase to initiate transcription and contains short stretches of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs), as well as structurally unique elements. Recent experimental and computational analyses of promoter sequences show that they often have non-B-DNA structural motifs, as well as some conserved structural properties, such as stability, bendability, nucleosome positioning preference and curvature, across a class of organisms. Here, we briefly describe these structural features, the differences observed in various organisms and their possible role in regulation of gene expression.

Functional Implications of Local DNA Structures in Regulatory Motifs

The three-dimensional structure of DNA has been proposed to be a major determinant for functional transcription factors (TFs) and DNA interaction. Here, we use hydroxyl radical cleavage pattern as a measure of local DNA structure. We compared the conservation between DNA sequence and structure in terms of information content and attempted to assess the functional implications of DNA structures in regulatory motifs. We used statistical methods to evaluate the structural divergence of substituting a single position within a binding site and applied them to a collection of putative regulatory motifs. The following are our major observations: (i) we observed more information in structural alignment than in the corresponding sequence alignment for most of the transcriptional factors; (ii) for each TF, majority of positions have more information in the structural alignment as compared to the sequence alignment; (iii) we further defined a DNA structural divergence score (SD score) for each wild-type and mutant pair that is distinguished by single-base mutation. The SD score for benign mutations is significantly lower than that of switch mutations. This indicates structural conservation is also important for TFBS to be functional and DNA structures will provide previously unappreciated information for TF to realize the binding specificity.

A computational method to search for DNA structural motifs in functional genomic elements

The rapidly increasing availability of DNA sequence data from modern high-throughput experimental techniques has created the need for computational algorithms to aid in motif discovery in genomic DNA. Such algorithms are typically used to find a statistical representation of the nucleotide sequence of the target site of a DNA-binding protein within a collection of DNA sequences that are thought to contain segments to which the protein is bound. A major assumption of these algorithms is that the protein recognizes the primary order of nucleotides in the sequence. However, proteins can also recognize the three-dimensional shape and structure of DNA. To account for this, we developed a computational method to predict the local structural profiles of any set of DNA sequences and then to search within these profiles for common DNA structural motifs. Here we describe the details of this method and use it to find a DNA structural motif in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast genome that is associated with binding of the transcription factor RLM1, a component of the protein kinase C-mediated MAP kinase pathway.

Cytosines, but not purines, determine recombination activating gene (RAG)-induced breaks on heteroduplex DNA structures: implications for genomic instability

The sequence specificity of the recombination activating gene (RAG) complex during V(D)J recombination has been well studied. RAGs can also act as structure-specific nuclease; however, little is known about the mechanism of its action. Here, we show that in addition to DNA structure, sequence dictates the pattern and efficiency of RAG cleavage on altered DNA structures. Cytosine nucleotides are preferentially nicked by RAGs when present at single-stranded regions of heteroduplex DNA. Although unpaired thymine nucleotides are also nicked, the efficiency is many fold weaker. Induction of single- or double-strand breaks by RAGs depends on the position of cytosines and whether it is present on one or both of the strands. Interestingly, RAGs are unable to induce breaks when adenine or guanine nucleotides are present at single-strand regions. The nucleotide present immediately next to the bubble sequence could also affect RAG cleavage. Hence, we propose "C((d))C((S))C((S))" (d, double-stranded; s, single-stranded) as a consensus sequence for RAG-induced breaks at single-/double-strand DNA transitions. Such a consensus sequence motif is useful for explaining RAG cleavage on other types of DNA structures described in the literature. Therefore, the mechanism of RAG cleavage described here could explain facets of chromosomal rearrangements specific to lymphoid tissues leading to genomic instability.

Conformational variants of duplex DNA correlated with cytosine-rich chromosomal fragile sites

We found that several major chromosomal fragile sites in human lymphomas, including the bcl-2 major breakpoint region, bcl-1 major translocation cluster, and c-Myc exon 1-intron 1 boundary, contain distinctive sequences of consecutive cytosines exhibiting a high degree of reactivity with the structure-specific chemical probe bisulfite. To assess the inherent structural variability of duplex DNA in these regions and to determine the range of structures reactive to bisulfite, we have performed bisulfite probing on genomic DNA in vitro and in situ; on duplex DNA in supercoiled and linearized plasmids; and on oligonucleotide DNA/DNA and DNA/2'-O-methyl RNA duplexes. Bisulfite is significantly more reactive at the frayed ends of DNA duplexes, which is expected given that bisulfite is an established probe of single-stranded DNA. We observed that bisulfite also distinguishes between more subtle sequence/structural differences in duplex DNA. Supercoiled plasmids are more reactive than linear DNA; and sequences containing consecutive cytosines, namely GGGCCC, are more reactive than those with alternating guanine and cytosine, namely GCGCGC. Circular dichroism and x-ray crystallography show that the GGGCCC sequence forms an intermediate B/A structure. Molecular dynamics simulations also predict an intermediate B/A structure for this sequence, and probe calculations suggest greater bisulfite accessibility of cytosine bases in the intermediate B/A structure over canonical B- or A-form DNA. Electrostatic calculations reveal that consecutive cytosine bases create electropositive patches in the major groove, predicting enhanced localization of the bisulfite anion at homo-C tracts over alternating G/C sequences. These characteristics of homo-C tracts in duplex DNA may be associated with DNA-protein interactions in vivo that predispose certain genomic regions to chromosomal fragility.

Qualifying the relationship between sequence conservation and molecular function

Quantification of evolutionary constraints via sequence conservation can be leveraged to annotate genomic functional sequences. Recent efforts addressing the converse of this relationship have identified many sites in metazoan genomes with molecular function but without detectable conservation between related species. Here, we discuss explanations and implications for these results considering both practical and theoretical issues. In particular, phylogenetic scope influences the relationship between sequence conservation and function. Comparisons of distantly related species can detect constraint with high specificity due to the loss of conserved neutral sequence, but sensitivity is sacrificed as a result of functional changes related to lineage-specific biology. The strength of natural selection operating on functional sequence is also important. Mutations to functional sequences that result in small fitness effects are subject to weaker constraints. Therefore, particularly when comparing highly divergent species, functional sequences that are degenerate or biologically redundant will be prone to turnover, wherein functional sequences are replaced by effectively equivalent, but nonorthologous counterparts. Finally, considering the size and complexity of metazoan genomes and the fact that many nonconserved sequences are associated with sequence-degenerate, low-level molecular functions, we find it likely that there exist many biochemically functional sequences that are not under constraint. This hypothesis does not lead to the conclusion that huge amounts of vertebrate genomes are functionally important, but rather that such "functionality" represents molecular noise that has weak or no effect on organismal phenotypes.

Prediction and analysis of nucleosome exclusion regions in the human genome

Background

Nucleosomes are the basic structural units of eukaryotic chromatin, and they play a significant role in regulating gene expression. Specific DNA sequence patterns are known, from empirical and theoretical studies, to influence DNA bending and flexibility, and have been shown to exclude nucleosomes. A whole genome localization of these patterns, and their analysis, can add important insights on the gene regulation mechanisms that depend upon the structure of chromatin in and around a gene.

Results

A whole genome annotation for nucleosome exclusion regions (NXRegions) was carried out on the human genome. Nucleosome exclusion scores (NXScores) were calculated individually for each nucleotide, giving a measure of how likely a specific nucleotide and its immediate neighborhood would impair DNA bending and, consequently, exclude nucleosomes. The resulting annotations were correlated with 19055 gene expression profiles. We developed a new method based on Grubbs' outliers test for ranking genes based on their tissue specificity, and correlated this ranking with NXScores. The results show a strong correlation between tissue specificity of a gene and the propensity of its promoter to exclude nucleosomes (the promoter region was taken as -1500 to +500 bp from the RefSeq-annotated transcription start site). In addition, NXScores correlated well with gene density, gene expression levels, and DNaseI hypersensitive sites.

Conclusion

We present, for the first time, a whole genome prediction of nucleosome exclusion regions for the human genome (the data are available for download from Additional Materials). Nucleosome exclusion patterns are correlated with various factors that regulate gene expression, which emphasizes the need to include chromatin structural parameters in experimental analysis of gene expression.

Understanding the molecular machinery of genetics through 3D structures

Detailed knowledge of the three-dimensional structures of biological molecules has had an enormous impact on all areas of biological science, including genetics, as structure can reveal the fine details of how molecules perform their biological functions. Here we consider how changes in protein sequence affect the corresponding 3D structure, and describe how structural information about proteins, DNA and chromatin has shed light on gene regulatory mechanisms and the storage and transmission of epigenetic information. Finally, we describe how structure determination is benefiting from the high-throughput technologies of the worldwide structural genomics projects.

Construction of a genome-scale structural map at single-nucleotide resolution

Few methods are available for mapping the local structure of DNA throughout a genome. The hydroxyl radical cleavage pattern is a measure of the local variation in solvent-accessible surface area of duplex DNA, and thus provides information on the local shape and structure of DNA. We report the construction of a relational database, ORChID (OH Radical Cleavage Intensity Database), that contains extensive hydroxyl radical cleavage data produced from two DNA libraries. We have used the ORChID database to develop a set of algorithms that are capable of predicting the hydroxyl radical cleavage pattern of a DNA sequence of essentially any length, to high accuracy. We have used the prediction algorithm to produce a structural map of the 30 Mb of the ENCODE regions of the human genome.

Identification and analysis of functional elements in 1% of the human genome by the ENCODE pilot project

We report the generation and analysis of functional data from multiple, diverse experiments performed on a targeted 1% of the human genome as part of the pilot phase of the ENCODE Project. These data have been further integrated and augmented by a number of evolutionary and computational analyses. Together, our results advance the collective knowledge about human genome function in several major areas. First, our studies provide convincing evidence that the genome is pervasively transcribed, such that the majority of its bases can be found in primary transcripts, including non-protein-coding transcripts, and those that extensively overlap one another. Second, systematic examination of transcriptional regulation has yielded new understanding about transcription start sites, including their relationship to specific regulatory sequences and features of chromatin accessibility and histone modification. Third, a more sophisticated view of chromatin structure has emerged, including its inter-relationship with DNA replication and transcriptional regulation. Finally, integration of these new sources of information, in particular with respect to mammalian evolution based on inter- and intra-species sequence comparisons, has yielded new mechanistic and evolutionary insights concerning the functional landscape of the human genome. Together, these studies are defining a path for pursuit of a more comprehensive characterization of human genome function.