Liver-specific matrin-3 knockout alters the chromatin accessibility in the liver of mice [ATAC-seq]

Matrin-3 is an RNA-binding protein involved in the pathogenesis of human diseases. Here we examined its previously uncharacterized role in regulating chromatin accessibility in the liver of mice. Bulk ATAC-seq and bioinformatics analysis identified 523 and 829 differential peaks (FDR < 0.05), respectively, in the liver of female mice fed a chow diet or 60% HFD for 16 weeks. Peak annotation by HOMER and ChIPseeker identified 183 and 444 genes, respectively, that are associated with the differential peaks. Enrichr analysis of these genes revealed that Hallmark terms such as "Xenobiotic metabolism" was enriched in the liver of chow-fed and HFD-fed mice. TRRUST database analysis from Metascape uncovered that Hnf4α is the main transcription factor regulating these peak-associated genes in the liver of chow-fed mice, and Hnf4α and Nr1i3 are the main transcription factors regulating these peak-associated genes in the liver of HFD-fed mice. Our data demonstrated that liver-specific matrin-3 deficiency alters chromatin accessibility likely affecting the action of two transcription factors Hnf4α and Nr1i3 in the liver of mice.