Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40874594›Full record

ArticleNucleic acids research2025

Predicting the DNA binding specificity of transcription factor mutants using family-level biophysically interpretable machine learning.

Shaoxun Liu, Pilar Gomez-Alcala, Christ Leemans, William J Glassford, Lucas A N Melo, Xiang-Jun Lu, Richard S Mann, Harmen J Bussemaker

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nucleic acids research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Shaoxun LiuDepartment of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States.
Pilar Gomez-AlcalaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States.
Christ LeemansDepartment of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States.
William J GlassfordDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, United States.
Lucas A N MeloDepartment of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-7563-7554
Xiang-Jun LuDepartment of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States.
Richard S MannDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-4749-2765
Harmen J BussemakerDepartment of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States.ORCID 0000-0002-7274-5277

Funding

Inferring regulatory circuitry from microarray dataR01HG003008 · NHGRI · COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE · PI BUSSEMAKER, HARMEN J · 2004 to 2020
$7.0M
Interpreting and Deploying Genomic Information During Animal DevelopmentR35GM118336 · NIGMS · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI RICHARD S MANN · 2016 to 2026
$6.9M
Statistical models for fine-mapping and interpretation of schizophrenia-associated lociR01MH106842 · NIMH · NEW YORK GENOME CENTER · PI BUSSEMAKER, HARMEN J, LAPPALAINEN, TUULI · 2015 to 2024
$5.0M
X3DNA-DSSR: a resource for structural bioinformatics of nucleic acidsR24GM153869 · NIGMS · COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE · PI Xiang-Jun Lu · 2024 to 2026
$1.5M
NHGRI NIH HHS R01 HG003008NHGRI NIH HHS R01HG003008NIGMS NIH HHS R24 GM153869NIGMS NIH HHS R24GM153869NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM118336NIGMS NIH HHS R35GM118336NIHNIMH NIH HHS R01 MH106842NIMH NIH HHS R01MH106842
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Sequence-specific interactions of transcription factors (TFs) with genomic DNA underlie many cellular processes. High-throughput in vitro binding assays coupled with machine learning have made it possible to accurately define such molecular recognition in a biophysically interpretable way for hundreds of TFs across many structural families, providing new avenues for predicting how the sequence preference of a TF is impacted by disease-associated mutations in its DNA binding domain. We developed a method based on a reference-free tetrahedral representation of variation in base preference within a given structural family that can be used to accurately predict the effect of mutations in the protein sequence of the TF. Using the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) and homeodomain (HD) families as test cases, our results demonstrate the feasibility of accurately predicting the shifts (ΔΔΔG/RT) in binding free energy associated with TF mutants by leveraging high-quality DNA binding models for sets of homologous wild-type TFs.

Indexed as

DNAMachine LearningTranscription FactorsBasic Helix-Loop-Helix ProteinsBinding SitesHomeodomain ProteinsHumansModels, MolecularMutationProtein BindingThermodynamicsBasic Helix-Loop-Helix ProteinsDNAHomeodomain ProteinsTranscription Factors

Identifiers

PMID40874594
PMCPMC12392098

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.