Defining Determinants of the Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Cistrome
Decades of molecular biology studies have elucidated many of the major determinants of DNA-protein interactions. However, how DNA sequences determine the in vivo establishment of cistromes is not fully understood. Nagy et al. (e00547-19) apply novel bioinformatic approaches to this problem by studying the cistromes of the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and its major collaborating partners. They investigated the sequence composition of putative regulatory regions and found that the cooccurrence of binding sites largely determines the collaborative binding and enrichment of transcription factors. Furthermore, they observed that dimer binding sites typically contain improved and weak monomer sites relative to canonical ones. These findings provide new insight into factors influencing the PPARγ cistrome.
Critical Role for the TAF4b Binding Partner ZFP628 in Spermiogenesis
Given the vast nature of the transcriptional machinery, elucidating cell-type-specific mechanisms of transcription in vivo remains challenging. Gustafson et al. (e00228-19) identify a novel interaction between TAF4b, a gonad-enriched component of the general transcription factor TFIID required for fertility, and the zinc finger DNA-binding protein ZFP628. Global disruption of ZFP628 expression in the mouse reveals an essential postmeiotic regulatory role in spermiogenesis, a haploid male germ cell maturation process. These data identify ZFP628 as a novel transcriptional regulator of spermiogenesis and underscore the complexity of the specialized transcriptional programs required for stage-specific male germ cell development and fertility.
- Copyright © 2020 American Society for Microbiology.
