An expanded codebook of human transcription factor DNA-binding specificity

Gene expression is regulated by transcription factors (TFs), which recognize specific DNA sequence motifs. Several hundred putative human TFs, identified mainly by an apparent DNA-binding domain, lack known binding motifs¹. Furthermore, even for well-characterized TFs, it remains controversial the degree to which motifs accurately reflect binding sites in living cells². Here we describe a systematic effort ('Codebook') to determine the sequence specificity of 332 putative and poorly characterized human TFs. More than 4,000 independent experiments, encompassing multiple in vitro and in vivo assays, produced motifs for just over half (177; 53%) of the TFs, of which most are associated with only a single protein. These results extend the vocabulary of sequence recognition encoded by human TFs by around 130 distinct motifs. Moreover, binding motifs identified in vitro are strongly enriched in cellular binding sites. Collectively, the data reveal tens of thousands of previously unknown, conserved and direct TF-binding sites across the human genome. These sites are concentrated in promoter regions and are predictive of gene expression. In summary, this new codebook provides an important step forward in decoding the human genome.