LATS kinase-mediated selective disruption of CTCF genomic binding

We identified CTCF as a substrate of the LATS kinases. Under cellular stress conditions that activated LATS, CTCF was phosphorylated in a LATS-dependent manner and lost DNA-binding activity. LATS signaling target genes resided in CTCF-mediated insulated neighborhoods and depended on such chromatin organization to sustain their expression. Genome-wide CTCF DNA-binding profiling revealed that metabolic stress reduced CTCF occupancy specifically at a small subset of CTCF-binding sites that encompassed many LATS target genes and were most significantly associated with LATS signaling. Dissociation of CTCF from LATS target genes disrupted corresponding CTCF-mediated chromatin domains and downregulated LATS target gene expression. Overall design: CTCF ChIP-seq for WT and Glucose free medium treatment in MCF7 breast cancer cells