The TTSMI database: A catalog of triplex target DNA sites associated with genes and regulatory elements in the human genome

Abstract

A triplex target DNA site (TTS), a stretch of DNA that is composed of polypurines, is able to form a triple-helix (triplex) structure with triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) and is able to influence the site-specific modulation of gene expression and/or the modification of genomic DNA. The colocalization of a genomic TTS with gene regulatory signals and functional genome structures suggests that TFOs could potentially be exploited in antigene strategies for the therapy of cancers and other genetic diseases. Here, we present the TTS Mapping and Integration (TTSMI; http://ttsmi.bii.a-star.edu.sg) database, which provides a catalog of unique TTS locations in the human genome and tools for analyzing the co-localization of TTSs with genomic regulatory sequences and signals that were identified using next-generation sequencing techniques and/or predicted by computational models. TTSMI was designed as a user-friendly tool that facilitates (i) fast searching/filtering of TTSs using several search terms and criteria associated with sequence stability and specificity, (ii) interactive filtering of TTSs that co-localize with gene regulatory signals and non-B DNA structures, (iii) exploration of dynamic combinations of the biological signals of specific TTSs and (iv) visualization of a TTS simultaneously with diverse annotation tracks via the UCSC genome browser.