The work by Hansen et al. highlights gaps in the pioneer factor hypothesis, which predicts how silenced genes can be accessed in the genome. Image credit: Jessica Johnson (www.jessicajohnsonart.com; CC BY 4.0)
Cells only use a fraction of their genetic information to make the proteins they need. The rest is carefully packaged away and tightly bundled in structures called nucleosomes. This physically shields the DNA from being accessed by transcription factors – the molecular actors that can read genes and kickstart the protein production process. Effectively, the genetic sequences inside nucleosomes are being silenced.
However, during development, transcription factors must overcome this nucleosome barrier and activate silent genes to program cells. The pioneer factor hypothesis describes how this may be possible: first, ‘pioneer’ transcription factors can bind to and ‘open up’ nucleosomes to make target genes accessible. Then, non-pioneer factors can access the genetic sequence and recruit cofactors that begin copying the now-exposed genetic information.
The widely accepted theory is based on studies of two proteins – FOXA1, an archetypal pioneer factor, and HNF4A, a non-pioneer factor – but the predictions of the pioneer factor hypothesis have yet to be explicitly tested. To do so, Hansen et al. expressed FOXA1 and HNF4A, separately and together, in cells which do not usually make these proteins. They then assessed how the proteins could bind to DNA and impact gene accessibility and transcription.
The experiments demonstrate that FOXA1 and HNF4A do not necessarily follow the two-step activation predicted by the pioneer factor hypothesis. When expressed independently, both transcription factors bound and opened inaccessible sites, activated target genes, and ‘pioneered’ for each other. Similar patterns were observed across the genome. The only notable distinction between the two factors was that FOXA1, the archetypal pioneering factor, required fewer copies of its target sequence to bind DNA than HNF4A.
These findings led Hansen et al. to propose an alternative theory to the pioneer factor hypothesis which eliminates the categorical distinction between pioneer and non-pioneer factors. Overall, this work has implications for how biologists understand the way that transcription factors activate silent genes during development.
