Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41285795›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Motif-based models accurately predict cell type-specific distal regulatory elements.

Paola Cornejo-Páramo, Xuan Zhang, Lithin Louis, Zelun Li, Yihua Yang, Emily S Wong

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Paola Cornejo-PáramoVictor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia.
Xuan ZhangVictor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3089-9809
Lithin LouisVictor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia.
Zelun LiVictor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia.
Yihua YangVictor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia.
Emily S WongVictor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia. e.wong@victorchang.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0315-2942

Funding

Department of Health | National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) GNT2009309
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Deciphering how DNA sequence specifies cell-type-specific regulatory activity is a central challenge in gene regulation. We present Bag-of-Motifs (BOM), a computational framework that represents distal cis-regulatory elements as unordered counts of transcription factor (TF) motifs. This minimalist representation, combined with gradient-boosted trees, enables the accurate prediction of cell-type-specific enhancers across mouse, human, zebrafish, and Arabidopsis datasets. Despite its simplicity, BOM outperforms more complex deep-learning models while using fewer parameters. We validate BOM's predictions experimentally by constructing synthetic enhancers from the most predictive motifs, demonstrating that these motif sets drive cell-type-specific expression. By providing direct interpretability and broad applicability, BOM reveals a highly predictive sequence code at distal regulatory regions and offers a scalable framework for dissecting cis-regulatory grammar across diverse species and conditions.

Indexed as

Computational BiologyEnhancer Elements, GeneticNucleotide MotifsRegulatory Sequences, Nucleic AcidAnimalsArabidopsisGene Expression RegulationHumansMiceTranscription FactorsZebrafishTranscription Factors

Identifiers

PMID41285795
PMCPMC12644898

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.