Genome-wide localization of the polyphenol quercetin in human monocytes

BACKGROUND: Quercetin is a polyphenol of great interest given its antioxidant activity and involvement in the immune response. Although quercetin has been well studied at the molecular level as a gene regulator and an activator of specific cellular pathways, not much attention has been given to its mechanism of action at the genome-wide level. The present study aims to characterize quercetin’s interaction with cellular DNA and to show its subsequent effect on downstream transcription. RESULTS: Two massive parallel DNA-sequencing technologies were used: Chem-seq and RNA-seq. We demonstrate that upon binding to DNA or genome-associated proteins, quercetin acts as a cis-regulatory transcription factor for the expression of genes that are involved in the cell cycle, differentiation and development. CONCLUSIONS: Such findings could provide new and important insights into the mechanisms by which the dietary polyphenol quercetin influences cellular functions. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-019-5966-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.