title: Genome-wide identification and characterisation of HOT regions in the human genome.
abstract: HOT (high-occupancy target) regions, which are bound by a surprisingly large number of transcription factors, are considered to be among the most intriguing findings of recent years. An improved understanding of the roles that HOT regions play in biology would be afforded by knowing the constellation of factors that constitute these domains and by identifying HOT regions across the spectrum of human cell types.
  
  
  
  We characterised and validated HOT regions in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and produced a catalogue of HOT regions in a broad range of human cell types. We found that HOT regions are associated with genes that control and define the developmental processes of the respective cell and tissue types. We also showed evidence of the developmental persistence of HOT regions at primitive enhancers and demonstrate unique signatures of HOT regions that distinguish them from typical enhancers and super-enhancers. Finally, we performed a dynamic analysis to reveal the dynamical regulation of HOT regions upon H1 differentiation.
  
  
  
  Taken together, our results provide a resource for the functional exploration of HOT regions and extend our understanding of the key roles of HOT regions in development and differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, 100850, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, 100850, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, 100850, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, 100850, China. boxc@bmi.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaochen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, 100850, China. shuwj@bmi.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Wenjie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shu
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites; D047369:Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D015894:Genome, Human; D023281:Genomics; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors
keywords: Bivalent markers; Cell development and differentiation; Dynamic epigenetic regulation; HOT regions; Super-enhancers