Construction of the gene regulatory network identifies MYC as a transcriptional regulator of SWI/SNF complex

Precise positioning of nucleosomes at the gene regulatory elements mediated by the SWI/SNF family of remodelling complex is important for the transcriptional regulation of genes. A wide set of genes are either positively or negatively regulated by SWI/SNF. In higher eukaryotes, around thirty genes were found to code for SWI/SNF subunits. The construction of a gene regulatory network of SWI/SNF subunits identifies MYC as a common regulator for many of the SWI/SNF subunit genes. A meta-analysis study was conducted to investigate the MYC dependent regulation of SWI/SNF remodelling complex. Subunit information and the promoter sequences of the subunit genes were used to find the canonical E-box motif and its variants. Detailed analysis of mouse and human ChIP-Seq at the SWI/SNF subunit loci indicates the presence of MYC binding peaks overlapping with E-boxes. The co-expression correlation and the differential expression analysis of wt vs. MYC perturbed MEFs indicate the MYC dependent regulation of some of the SWI/SNF subunits. The extension of the analysis was done on MYC proficient and MYC deficient embryonic fibroblast cell lines, TGR1 and HO15, and in one of the MYC amplified cancer types, Medulloblastoma. A transcriptional regulatory feedback loop between MYC and SWI/SNF could be a major factor contributing to the aggressiveness of MYC dependent cancers.