Orthogonal analysis of C/EBP β targets in vivo during liver proliferation

CCAAT enhancer-binding protein beta(C/EBPbeta), a basic-leucine zipper transcription factor, is an important effector of signals in physiologic growth and cancer. The identification of direct C/EBPbeta targets in vivo has been limited by functional compensation by other C/EBP family proteins and the low stringency of the consensus sequence. Here we use the combined power of expression profiling and high-throughput chromatin immunoprecipitation to identify direct and biologically relevant targets of C/EBPbeta. We identified 25 potential C/EBPbeta targets, of which 88% of those tested were confirmed as in vivo C/EBPbeta-binding sites. Six of these genes also displayed differential expression in C/EBPbeta(-/-) livers. Computational analysis revealed that bona fide C/EBPbeta target genes can be distinguished by the presence of binding motifs for specific additional transcription factors in the vicinity of the C/EBPbeta site. This approach is generally applicable to the discovery of direct, biologically relevant targets of mammalian transcription factors.