The DNA-binding network of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infects 30 % of all humans and kills someone every 20–30 s. Here we report genome-wide binding forB80 % of all predicted MTB transcription factors (TFs), and assayed global expression following induction of each TF. The MTB DNA-binding network consists of B16,000 binding events from 154 TFs. We identify 450 TF-DNA consensus motifs and 41,150 promoter-binding events directly associated with proximal gene regulation. An additional B4,200 binding events are in promoter win-dows and represent strong candidates for direct transcriptional regulation under appropriate environmental conditions. However, we also identify410,000 ‘dormant ’ DNA-binding events that cannot be linked directly with proximal transcriptional control, suggesting that widespread DNA binding may be a common feature that should be considered when developing global models of coordinated gene expression