title: DNA Shape Features Improve Transcription Factor Binding Site Predictions In Vivo.
abstract: Interactions of transcription factors (TFs) with DNA comprise a complex interplay between base-specific amino acid contacts and readout of DNA structure. Recent studies have highlighted the complementarity of DNA sequence and shape in modeling TF binding in vitro. Here, we have provided a comprehensive evaluation of in vivo datasets to assess the predictive power obtained by augmenting various DNA sequence-based models of TF binding sites (TFBSs) with DNA shape features (helix twist, minor groove width, propeller twist, and roll). Results from 400 human ChIP-seq datasets for 76 TFs show that combining DNA shape features with position-specific scoring matrix (PSSM) scores improves TFBS predictions. Improvement has also been observed using TF flexible models and a machine-learning approach using a binary encoding of nucleotides in lieu of PSSMs. Incorporating DNA shape information is most beneficial for E2F and MADS-domain TF families. Our findings indicate that incorporating DNA sequence and shape information benefits the modeling of TF binding under complex in vivo conditions.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the Child and Family Research Institute, Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, 980 West 28th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4H4, Canada; Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway (NCMM), Nordic EMBL Partnership, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, 0318 Oslo, Norway; Department of Cancer Genetics, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital Radiumhospitalet, 0372 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathelier
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Computational Biology Program, Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, and Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
authors.forename: Beibei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Computational Biology Program, Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, and Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
authors.forename: Tsu-Pei
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Computational Biology Program, Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, and Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Computational Biology Program, Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, and Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. Electronic address: rohs@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Remo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rohs
authors.affiliation: Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the Child and Family Research Institute, Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, 980 West 28th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4H4, Canada. Electronic address: wyeth@cmmt.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Wyeth W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Wasserman
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D004247:DNA; D006801:Humans; D011485:Protein Binding; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors; D004247:DNA