Combinatorial pattern of histone modifications in exon skipping event

Abstract

Histone modifications are associated with alternative splicing. It has been suggested that histone modifications act in combinational patterns in gene expression regulation. However, how they interact with each other and what is their casual relationships in the process of RNA splicing remain unclear. In this study, the combinatorial patterns of 38 kinds of histone modifications in the exon skipping event of the CD4+ T cell were analyzed by constructing Bayesian networks. Distinct combinatorial patterns of histone modifications that illustrating their casual relationships were observed in excluded/included exons and the surrounding intronic regions. The Bayesian networks also indicate that some histone modifications directly correlate with RNA splicing. We anticipate that this work could provide novel insights into the effects of histone modifications on RNA splicing regulation.