Epigenetic features are significantly associated with alternative splicing

BMC Genomics

Research Article

Weidong Tian¹  Yulan Lu¹  Yuanpeng Zhou¹ 

[1] State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Biostatistics, School of Life Science, Fudan University, 220 Handan Rd, 2004333, Shanghai, China;

关键词: Alternative splicing;    Epigenetics;    DNA methylation;    Nucleosome occupancy;    Histone modifications;    Transcription factors;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2164-13-123

 received in 2011-10-15, accepted in 2012-03-29,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWhile alternative splicing (AS) contributes greatly to protein diversities, the relationship between various types of AS and epigenetic factors remains largely unknown.ResultsIn this study, we discover that a number of epigenetic features, including DNA methylation, nucleosome occupancy, specific histone modifications and protein features, are strongly associated with AS. To further enhance our understanding of the association between these features and AS, we cluster our investigated features based on their association patterns with each AS type into four groups, with H3K36me3, EGR1, GABP, SRF, SIN3A and RNA Pol II grouped together and showing strongest association with AS. In addition, we find that the AS types can be classified into two general classes, namely the exon skipping related process (ESRP), and the alternative splice site selection process (ASSP), based on their association levels with the epigenetic features.ConclusionOur analysis thus suggests that epigenetic features are likely to play important roles in regulating AS.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Zhou et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.