Assessing the relationship between chromatin and splicing factors in alternative splicing

Proteins that bind to DNA or RNA are both known to influence alternative splicing. However, there has not been so far a systematic experimental exploration of the relationship between these factors in their effect on splicing. In this thesis, we make use of the large amounts of publicly available hi...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Kremsky, Isaac Jacob
Formato: tesis doctoral
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2015
País:España
Recursos:CBUC, CESCA
Repositorio:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/316790
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/316790
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Alternative splicing
Chromatin
Sequencing
Motifs
CTCF
Empalmament alternatiu
Cromatina
Seqüenciació
Motius
575
Descrição
Resumo:Proteins that bind to DNA or RNA are both known to influence alternative splicing. However, there has not been so far a systematic experimental exploration of the relationship between these factors in their effect on splicing. In this thesis, we make use of the large amounts of publicly available high throughput sequencing data that now make it possible to explore this question on a genome-wide scale. We made exhaustive use of a method known as profiling to address this question. As most profiling methods in common use are merely qualitative, the first task of the thesis was to generate a quantitative profiling method and bioinformatics tool, ProfileSeq, which we validated by reproducing previous results from the literature. ProfileSeq and other methods were combined to mine for relationships between DNA and RNA binding factors with potential relevance to splicing. We found significant associations between the transcription factor CTCF and the RNA binding protein LIN28A, and similarly between SPI1 and RNA-binding proteins that bind to AC-rich motifs, such as hnRNPL. These represent putative relationships relevant to splicing, as these results were reached by more than one independent method with independent datasets. We also show evidence that CTCF acts as a barrier between regions of H3K4me3 marking inside genes. A number of other results of potential interest to both the bioinformatics and molecular biology communities are also described