分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 >> 生物物理、生物化学与分子生物学 提交时间: 2016-05-12
摘要: The field of non-coding RNA biology has been hampered by the lack of availability of a comprehensive, up-to-date collection of accessioned RNA sequences. Here we present the first release of RNAcentral, a database that collates and integrates information from an international consortium of established RNA sequence databases. The initial release contains over 8.1 million sequences, including representatives of all major functional classes. A web portal (http://rnacentral.org) provides free access to data, search functionality, cross-references, source code and an integrated genome browser for selected species.
分类: 生物学 >> 生物物理学 提交时间: 2016-05-11
摘要: Background: The CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) has diverse regulatory functions. However, the definitive characteristics of the CTCF binding motif required for its functional diversity still remains elusive. Results: Here, we describe a new motif discovery workflow by which we have identified three CTCF binding motif variations with highly divergent functionalities. Supported by transcriptomic, epigenomic and chromatin-interactomic data, we show that the functional diversity of the CTCF binding motifs is strongly associated with their GC content, CpG dinucleotide coverage and relative DNA methylation level at the 12th position of the motifs. Further analysis suggested that the co-localization of cohesin, the key factor in cohesion of sister chromatids, is negatively correlated with the CpG coverage and the relative DNA methylation level at the 12th position. Finally, we present evidences for a hypothetical model in which chromatin interactions between promoters and distal regulatory regions are likely mediated by CTCFs binding to sequences with high CpG. Conclusion: These results demonstrate the existence of definitive CTCF binding motifs corresponding to CTCF's diverse functions, and that the functional diversity of the motifs is strongly associated with genetic and epigenetic features at the 12th position of the motifs.