Genome-wide localization of the polyphenol quercetin in human monocytes

Abstract Background Quercetin is a polyphenol of great interest given its antioxidant activity and involvement in the immune response. Although quercetin has been well studied at the molecular level as a gene regulator and an activator of specific cellular pathways, not much attention has been given...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Dana Atrahimovich, Avraham O. Samson, Yifthah Barsheshet, Jacob Vaya, Soliman Khatib, Eli Reuveni
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2019-07-01
Series:BMC Genomics
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12864-019-5966-9
Description
Summary:Abstract Background Quercetin is a polyphenol of great interest given its antioxidant activity and involvement in the immune response. Although quercetin has been well studied at the molecular level as a gene regulator and an activator of specific cellular pathways, not much attention has been given to its mechanism of action at the genome-wide level. The present study aims to characterize quercetin’s interaction with cellular DNA and to show its subsequent effect on downstream transcription. Results Two massive parallel DNA-sequencing technologies were used: Chem-seq and RNA-seq. We demonstrate that upon binding to DNA or genome-associated proteins, quercetin acts as a cis-regulatory transcription factor for the expression of genes that are involved in the cell cycle, differentiation and development. Conclusions Such findings could provide new and important insights into the mechanisms by which the dietary polyphenol quercetin influences cellular functions.
ISSN:1471-2164