ZBTB24 is a transcriptional regulator that coordinates with DNMT3B to control DNA methylation [ChiP-Seq and RNA-Seq]

The interplay between transcription factors and epigenetic writers like the DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), and the role of this interplay in modulating gene expression, is being increasingly appreciated. We investigated the interplay between ZBTB24, a zinc-finger protein belonging to the BTB-POZ family of transcription factors, and the de novo DNA methyltransferase DNMT3B. Both factors, when mutated, cause Immunodeficiency, Centromere Instability, and Facial anomalies (ICF) syndrome, suggesting they are mechanistically linked in some way, but almost nothing is known about ZBTB24. In this study, we identified genomic targets regulated by ZBTB24, and identified its recognition motif, binding to which leads to activation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation in model cell line systems revealed common genes bound by ZBTB24 and DNMT3B, where they function to regulate gene body methylation. Genes coordinately regulated by ZBTB24 and DNMT3B are enriched for molecular mechanisms essential for cellular homeostasis, highlighting the importance of the ZBTB24-DNMT3B interplay in maintaining epigenetic patterns required for normal cellular function. Flag-tagged ZBTB24, DNMT3B, and tag-only stable ectopic lines were created and genomic sites bound by each factor was mapped using ChIP-seq. Loss of function approach was used to map the functional transcriptome and methylome regulated by ZBTB24 and DNMT3B.