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Rojo D, Hael CE, Soria A, de Souza FSJ, Low MJ, Franchini LF, Rubinstein M. A mammalian tripartite enhancer cluster controls hypothalamic Pomc expression, food intake, and body weight. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2322692121. [PMID: 38652744 PMCID: PMC11067048 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2322692121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Food intake and energy balance are tightly regulated by a group of hypothalamic arcuate neurons expressing the proopiomelanocortin (POMC) gene. In mammals, arcuate-specific POMC expression is driven by two cis-acting transcriptional enhancers known as nPE1 and nPE2. Because mutant mice lacking these two enhancers still showed hypothalamic Pomc mRNA, we searched for additional elements contributing to arcuate Pomc expression. By combining molecular evolution with reporter gene expression in transgenic zebrafish and mice, here, we identified a mammalian arcuate-specific Pomc enhancer that we named nPE3, carrying several binding sites also present in nPE1 and nPE2 for transcription factors known to activate neuronal Pomc expression, such as ISL1, NKX2.1, and ERα. We found that nPE3 originated in the lineage leading to placental mammals and remained under purifying selection in all mammalian orders, although it was lost in Simiiformes (monkeys, apes, and humans) following a unique segmental deletion event. Interestingly, ablation of nPE3 from the mouse genome led to a drastic reduction (>70%) in hypothalamic Pomc mRNA during development and only moderate (<33%) in adult mice. Comparison between double (nPE1 and nPE2) and triple (nPE1, nPE2, and nPE3) enhancer mutants revealed the relative contribution of nPE3 to hypothalamic Pomc expression and its importance in the control of food intake and adiposity in male and female mice. Altogether, these results demonstrate that nPE3 integrates a tripartite cluster of partially redundant enhancers that originated upon a triple convergent evolutionary process in mammals and that is critical for hypothalamic Pomc expression and body weight homeostasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Rojo
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires1428, Argentina
| | - Clara E. Hael
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires1428, Argentina
| | - Agustina Soria
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires1428, Argentina
- Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires1428, Argentina
| | - Flávio S. J. de Souza
- Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires1428, Argentina
- Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias, Universidad de Buenos Aires and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires1428, Argentina
| | - Malcolm J. Low
- Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48105
| | - Lucía F. Franchini
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires1428, Argentina
| | - Marcelo Rubinstein
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires1428, Argentina
- Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires1428, Argentina
- Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48105
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2
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Achinger-Kawecka J, Stirzaker C, Portman N, Campbell E, Chia KM, Du Q, Laven-Law G, Nair SS, Yong A, Wilkinson A, Clifton S, Milioli HH, Alexandrou S, Caldon CE, Song J, Khoury A, Meyer B, Chen W, Pidsley R, Qu W, Gee JMW, Schmitt A, Wong ES, Hickey TE, Lim E, Clark SJ. The potential of epigenetic therapy to target the 3D epigenome in endocrine-resistant breast cancer. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2024; 31:498-512. [PMID: 38182927 PMCID: PMC10948365 DOI: 10.1038/s41594-023-01181-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) epigenome remodeling is an important mechanism of gene deregulation in cancer. However, its potential as a target to counteract therapy resistance remains largely unaddressed. Here, we show that epigenetic therapy with decitabine (5-Aza-mC) suppresses tumor growth in xenograft models of pre-clinical metastatic estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast tumor. Decitabine-induced genome-wide DNA hypomethylation results in large-scale 3D epigenome deregulation, including de-compaction of higher-order chromatin structure and loss of boundary insulation of topologically associated domains. Significant DNA hypomethylation associates with ectopic activation of ER-enhancers, gain in ER binding, creation of new 3D enhancer-promoter interactions and concordant up-regulation of ER-mediated transcription pathways. Importantly, long-term withdrawal of epigenetic therapy partially restores methylation at ER-enhancer elements, resulting in a loss of ectopic 3D enhancer-promoter interactions and associated gene repression. Our study illustrates the potential of epigenetic therapy to target ER+ endocrine-resistant breast cancer by DNA methylation-dependent rewiring of 3D chromatin interactions, which are associated with the suppression of tumor growth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Achinger-Kawecka
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Clare Stirzaker
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Neil Portman
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Elyssa Campbell
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kee-Ming Chia
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Qian Du
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Geraldine Laven-Law
- Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Shalima S Nair
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Aliza Yong
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ashleigh Wilkinson
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Samuel Clifton
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Heloisa H Milioli
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Sarah Alexandrou
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - C Elizabeth Caldon
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jenny Song
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Amanda Khoury
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Braydon Meyer
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Wenhan Chen
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ruth Pidsley
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Wenjia Qu
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Julia M W Gee
- Breast Cancer Molecular Pharmacology Group, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK
| | | | - Emily S Wong
- Victor Chang Cardiac Institute, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Theresa E Hickey
- Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Elgene Lim
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Susan J Clark
- Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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3
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Yang JH, Hansen AS. Enhancer selectivity in space and time: from enhancer-promoter interactions to promoter activation. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2024:10.1038/s41580-024-00710-6. [PMID: 38413840 DOI: 10.1038/s41580-024-00710-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
The primary regulators of metazoan gene expression are enhancers, originally functionally defined as DNA sequences that can activate transcription at promoters in an orientation-independent and distance-independent manner. Despite being crucial for gene regulation in animals, what mechanisms underlie enhancer selectivity for promoters, and more fundamentally, how enhancers interact with promoters and activate transcription, remain poorly understood. In this Review, we first discuss current models of enhancer-promoter interactions in space and time and how enhancers affect transcription activation. Next, we discuss different mechanisms that mediate enhancer selectivity, including repression, biochemical compatibility and regulation of 3D genome structure. Through 3D polymer simulations, we illustrate how the ability of 3D genome folding mechanisms to mediate enhancer selectivity strongly varies for different enhancer-promoter interaction mechanisms. Finally, we discuss how recent technical advances may provide new insights into mechanisms of enhancer-promoter interactions and how technical biases in methods such as Hi-C and Micro-C and imaging techniques may affect their interpretation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin H Yang
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Gene Regulation Observatory, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Anders S Hansen
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Gene Regulation Observatory, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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Blayney JW, Francis H, Rampasekova A, Camellato B, Mitchell L, Stolper R, Cornell L, Babbs C, Boeke JD, Higgs DR, Kassouf M. Super-enhancers include classical enhancers and facilitators to fully activate gene expression. Cell 2023; 186:5826-5839.e18. [PMID: 38101409 PMCID: PMC10858684 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.11.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Revised: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Super-enhancers are compound regulatory elements that control expression of key cell identity genes. They recruit high levels of tissue-specific transcription factors and co-activators such as the Mediator complex and contact target gene promoters with high frequency. Most super-enhancers contain multiple constituent regulatory elements, but it is unclear whether these elements have distinct roles in activating target gene expression. Here, by rebuilding the endogenous multipartite α-globin super-enhancer, we show that it contains bioinformatically equivalent but functionally distinct element types: classical enhancers and facilitator elements. Facilitators have no intrinsic enhancer activity, yet in their absence, classical enhancers are unable to fully upregulate their target genes. Without facilitators, classical enhancers exhibit reduced Mediator recruitment, enhancer RNA transcription, and enhancer-promoter interactions. Facilitators are interchangeable but display functional hierarchy based on their position within a multipartite enhancer. Facilitators thus play an important role in potentiating the activity of classical enhancers and ensuring robust activation of target genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph W Blayney
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Helena Francis
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Alexandra Rampasekova
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Brendan Camellato
- Institute for Systems Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Leslie Mitchell
- Institute for Systems Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Rosa Stolper
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Lucy Cornell
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Christian Babbs
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Jef D Boeke
- Institute for Systems Genetics and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA.
| | - Douglas R Higgs
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK; Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Oxford Institute, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK.
| | - Mira Kassouf
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK.
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Chen LF, Long HK. Topology regulatory elements: From shaping genome architecture to gene regulation. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2023; 83:102723. [PMID: 37931379 PMCID: PMC7615376 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2023.102723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023]
Abstract
The importance of 3D genome topology in the control of gene expression is becoming increasingly apparent, while regulatory mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Several recent studies have identified architectural elements that influence developmental gene expression by shaping locus topology. We refer to these elements as topological regulatory elements (TopoREs) to reflect their dual roles in genome organisation and gene expression. Importantly, these elements do not harbour autonomous transcriptional activation capacity, and instead appear to facilitate enhancer-promoter interactions, contributing to robust and precise timing of transcription. We discuss examples of TopoREs from two classes that are either dependent or independent of CTCF binding. Importantly, identification and interpretation of TopoRE function may shed light on multiple aspects of gene regulation, including the relationship between enhancer-promoter proximity and transcription, and enhancer-promoter specificity. Ultimately, understanding TopoRE diversity and function will aid in the interpretation of how human sequence variation can impact transcription and contribute to disease phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liang-Fu Chen
- Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Hannah Katherine Long
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Crewe Road, Edinburgh, UK.
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6
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Maresca M, van den Brand T, Li H, Teunissen H, Davies J, de Wit E. Pioneer activity distinguishes activating from non-activating SOX2 binding sites. EMBO J 2023; 42:e113150. [PMID: 37691488 PMCID: PMC10577566 DOI: 10.15252/embj.2022113150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide transcriptional activity involves the binding of many transcription factors (TFs) to thousands of sites in the genome. Pioneer TFs are a class of TFs that maintain open chromatin and allow non-pioneer TFs access to their target sites. Determining which TF binding sites directly drive transcription remains a challenge. Here, we use acute protein depletion of the pioneer TF SOX2 to establish its functionality in maintaining chromatin accessibility. We show that thousands of accessible sites are lost within an hour of protein depletion, indicating rapid turnover of these sites in the absence of the pioneer factor. To understand the relationship with transcription, we performed nascent transcription analysis and found that open chromatin sites that are maintained by SOX2 are highly predictive of gene expression, in contrast to all other SOX2 binding sites. We use CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in the Klf2 locus to functionally validate a predicted regulatory element. We conclude that the regulatory activity of SOX2 is exerted mainly at sites where it maintains accessibility and that other binding sites are largely dispensable for gene regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michela Maresca
- Division of Gene RegulationThe Netherlands Cancer InstituteAmsterdamThe Netherlands
| | - Teun van den Brand
- Division of Gene RegulationThe Netherlands Cancer InstituteAmsterdamThe Netherlands
| | - Hangpeng Li
- MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of MedicineUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Hans Teunissen
- Division of Gene RegulationThe Netherlands Cancer InstituteAmsterdamThe Netherlands
| | - James Davies
- MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of MedicineUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Elzo de Wit
- Division of Gene RegulationThe Netherlands Cancer InstituteAmsterdamThe Netherlands
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7
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Thomas HF, Buecker C. What is an enhancer? Bioessays 2023; 45:e2300044. [PMID: 37256273 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202300044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2023] [Revised: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Tight control of the transcription process is essential for the correct spatial and temporal gene expression pattern during development and in homeostasis. Enhancers are at the core of correct transcriptional activation. The original definition of an enhancer is straightforward: a DNA sequence that activates transcription independent of orientation and direction. Dissection of numerous enhancer loci has shown that many enhancer-like elements might not conform to the original definition, suggesting that enhancers and enhancer-like elements might use multiple different mechanisms to contribute to transcriptional activation. Here, we review methodologies to identify enhancers and enhancer-like elements and discuss pitfalls and consequences for our understanding of transcriptional regulation.
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8
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Lee HK, Willi M, Liu C, Hennighausen L. Cell-specific and shared regulatory elements control a multigene locus active in mammary and salivary glands. Nat Commun 2023; 14:4992. [PMID: 37591874 PMCID: PMC10435465 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40712-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Regulation of high-density loci harboring genes with different cell-specificities remains a puzzle. Here we investigate a locus that evolved through gene duplication and contains eight genes and 20 candidate regulatory elements, including one super-enhancer. Casein genes (Csn1s1, Csn2, Csn1s2a, Csn1s2b, Csn3) are expressed in mammary glands, induced 10,000-fold during pregnancy and account for 50% of mRNAs during lactation, Prr27 and Fdcsp are salivary-specific and Odam has dual specificity. We probed the function of 12 candidate regulatory elements, individually and in combination, in the mouse genome. The super-enhancer is essential for the expression of Csn3, Csn1s2b, Odam and Fdcsp but largely dispensable for Csn1s1, Csn2 and Csn1s2a. Csn3 activation also requires its own local enhancer. Synergism between local enhancers and cytokine-responsive promoter elements facilitates activation of Csn2 during pregnancy. Our work identifies the regulatory complexity of a multigene locus with an ancestral super-enhancer active in mammary and salivary tissue and local enhancers and promoter elements unique to mammary tissue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hye Kyung Lee
- Section of Genetics and Physiology, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA.
| | - Michaela Willi
- Section of Genetics and Physiology, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA
| | - Chengyu Liu
- Transgenic Core, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA
| | - Lothar Hennighausen
- Section of Genetics and Physiology, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA.
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Wang X, Liu D, Luo J, Kong D, Zhang Y. Exploring the Role of Enhancer-Mediated Transcriptional Regulation in Precision Biology. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:10843. [PMID: 37446021 PMCID: PMC10342031 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241310843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Revised: 06/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The emergence of precision biology has been driven by the development of advanced technologies and techniques in high-resolution biological research systems. Enhancer-mediated transcriptional regulation, a complex network of gene expression and regulation in eukaryotes, has attracted significant attention as a promising avenue for investigating the underlying mechanisms of biological processes and diseases. To address biological problems with precision, large amounts of data, functional information, and research on the mechanisms of action of biological molecules is required to address biological problems with precision. Enhancers, including typical enhancers and super enhancers, play a crucial role in gene expression and regulation within this network. The identification and targeting of disease-associated enhancers hold the potential to advance precision medicine. In this review, we present the concepts, progress, importance, and challenges in precision biology, transcription regulation, and enhancers. Furthermore, we propose a model of transcriptional regulation for multi-enhancers and provide examples of their mechanisms in mammalian cells, thereby enhancing our understanding of how enhancers achieve precise regulation of gene expression in life processes. Precision biology holds promise in providing new tools and platforms for discovering insights into gene expression and disease occurrence, ultimately benefiting individuals and society as a whole.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueyan Wang
- College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China;
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Multi-Omics of MARA, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China; (D.L.); (J.L.); (D.K.)
| | - Danli Liu
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Multi-Omics of MARA, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China; (D.L.); (J.L.); (D.K.)
| | - Jing Luo
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Multi-Omics of MARA, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China; (D.L.); (J.L.); (D.K.)
| | - Dashuai Kong
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Multi-Omics of MARA, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China; (D.L.); (J.L.); (D.K.)
| | - Yubo Zhang
- College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China;
- Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Multi-Omics of MARA, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China; (D.L.); (J.L.); (D.K.)
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10
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Kessler S, Minoux M, Joshi O, Ben Zouari Y, Ducret S, Ross F, Vilain N, Salvi A, Wolff J, Kohler H, Stadler MB, Rijli FM. A multiple super-enhancer region establishes inter-TAD interactions and controls Hoxa function in cranial neural crest. Nat Commun 2023; 14:3242. [PMID: 37277355 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38953-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Enhancer-promoter interactions preferentially occur within boundary-insulated topologically associating domains (TADs), limiting inter-TAD interactions. Enhancer clusters in linear proximity, termed super-enhancers (SEs), ensure high target gene expression levels. Little is known about SE topological regulatory impact during craniofacial development. Here, we identify 2232 genome-wide putative SEs in mouse cranial neural crest cells (CNCCs), 147 of which target genes establishing CNCC positional identity during face formation. In second pharyngeal arch (PA2) CNCCs, a multiple SE-containing region, partitioned into Hoxa Inter-TAD Regulatory Element 1 and 2 (HIRE1 and HIRE2), establishes long-range inter-TAD interactions selectively with Hoxa2, that is required for external and middle ear structures. HIRE2 deletion in a Hoxa2 haploinsufficient background results in microtia. HIRE1 deletion phenocopies the full homeotic Hoxa2 knockout phenotype and induces PA3 and PA4 CNCC abnormalities correlating with Hoxa2 and Hoxa3 transcriptional downregulation. Thus, SEs can overcome TAD insulation and regulate anterior Hoxa gene collinear expression in a CNCC subpopulation-specific manner during craniofacial development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Kessler
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Maryline Minoux
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
- INSERM UMR 1121, Université de Strasbourg, Faculté de Chirurgie Dentaire, 8, rue Sainte Elisabeth, 67 000, Strasbourg, France
| | - Onkar Joshi
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Yousra Ben Zouari
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Sebastien Ducret
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Fiona Ross
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Nathalie Vilain
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Adwait Salvi
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Joachim Wolff
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Hubertus Kohler
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Michael B Stadler
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Filippo M Rijli
- Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058, Basel, Switzerland.
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
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11
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Brosh R, Coelho C, Ribeiro-Dos-Santos AM, Ellis G, Hogan MS, Ashe HJ, Somogyi N, Ordoñez R, Luther RD, Huang E, Boeke JD, Maurano MT. Synthetic regulatory genomics uncovers enhancer context dependence at the Sox2 locus. Mol Cell 2023; 83:1140-1152.e7. [PMID: 36931273 PMCID: PMC10081970 DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2023.02.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023]
Abstract
Sox2 expression in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) depends on a distal cluster of DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs), but their individual contributions and degree of interdependence remain a mystery. We analyzed the endogenous Sox2 locus using Big-IN to scarlessly integrate large DNA payloads incorporating deletions, rearrangements, and inversions affecting single or multiple DHSs, as well as surgical alterations to transcription factor (TF) recognition sequences. Multiple mESC clones were derived for each payload, sequence-verified, and analyzed for Sox2 expression. We found that two DHSs comprising a handful of key TF recognition sequences were each sufficient for long-range activation of Sox2 expression. By contrast, three nearby DHSs were entirely context dependent, showing no activity alone but dramatically augmenting the activity of the autonomous DHSs. Our results highlight the role of context in modulating genomic regulatory element function, and our synthetic regulatory genomics approach provides a roadmap for the dissection of other genomic loci.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ran Brosh
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Camila Coelho
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | | | - Gwen Ellis
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Megan S Hogan
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Hannah J Ashe
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Nicolette Somogyi
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Raquel Ordoñez
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Raven D Luther
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Emily Huang
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Jef D Boeke
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Biochemistry Molecular Pharmacology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
| | - Matthew T Maurano
- Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Pathology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
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12
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Boileau RM, Chen KX, Blelloch R. Loss of MLL3/4 decouples enhancer H3K4 monomethylation, H3K27 acetylation, and gene activation during embryonic stem cell differentiation. Genome Biol 2023; 24:41. [PMID: 36869380 PMCID: PMC9983171 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-023-02883-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/19/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Enhancers are essential in defining cell fates through the control of cell-type-specific gene expression. Enhancer activation is a multi-step process involving chromatin remodelers and histone modifiers including the monomethylation of H3K4 (H3K4me1) by MLL3 (KMT2C) and MLL4 (KMT2D). MLL3/4 are thought to be critical for enhancer activation and cognate gene expression including through the recruitment of acetyltransferases for H3K27. RESULTS Here we test this model by evaluating the impact of MLL3/4 loss on chromatin and transcription during early differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells. We find that MLL3/4 activity is required at most if not all sites that gain or lose H3K4me1 but is largely dispensable at sites that remain stably methylated during this transition. This requirement extends to H3K27 acetylation (H3K27ac) at most transitional sites. However, many sites gain H3K27ac independent of MLL3/4 or H3K4me1 including enhancers regulating key factors in early differentiation. Furthermore, despite the failure to gain active histone marks at thousands of enhancers, transcriptional activation of nearby genes is largely unaffected, thus uncoupling the regulation of these chromatin events from transcriptional changes during this transition. These data challenge current models of enhancer activation and imply distinct mechanisms between stable and dynamically changing enhancers. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, our study highlights gaps in knowledge about the steps and epistatic relationships of enzymes necessary for enhancer activation and cognate gene transcription.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan M. Boileau
- The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Center for Reproductive Sciences, and Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
- Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Graduate Program , University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
- Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA
| | - Kevin X. Chen
- The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Center for Reproductive Sciences, and Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
- Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA
| | - Robert Blelloch
- The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Center for Reproductive Sciences, and Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
- Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Graduate Program , University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
- Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA
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13
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Kim S, Wysocka J. Deciphering the multi-scale, quantitative cis-regulatory code. Mol Cell 2023; 83:373-392. [PMID: 36693380 PMCID: PMC9898153 DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2022.12.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 45.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2022] [Revised: 12/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Uncovering the cis-regulatory code that governs when and how much each gene is transcribed in a given genome and cellular state remains a central goal of biology. Here, we discuss major layers of regulation that influence how transcriptional outputs are encoded by DNA sequence and cellular context. We first discuss how transcription factors bind specific DNA sequences in a dosage-dependent and cooperative manner and then proceed to the cofactors that facilitate transcription factor function and mediate the activity of modular cis-regulatory elements such as enhancers, silencers, and promoters. We then consider the complex and poorly understood interplay of these diverse elements within regulatory landscapes and its relationships with chromatin states and nuclear organization. We propose that a mechanistically informed, quantitative model of transcriptional regulation that integrates these multiple regulatory layers will be the key to ultimately cracking the cis-regulatory code.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seungsoo Kim
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Joanna Wysocka
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
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14
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Hong D, Lin H, Liu L, Shu M, Dai J, Lu F, Tong M, Huang J. Complexity of enhancer networks predicts cell identity and disease genes revealed by single-cell multi-omics analysis. Brief Bioinform 2023; 24:6868525. [PMID: 36464486 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbac508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Revised: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Many enhancers exist as clusters in the genome and control cell identity and disease genes; however, the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Here, we introduce an algorithm, eNet, to build enhancer networks by integrating single-cell chromatin accessibility and gene expression profiles. The complexity of enhancer networks is assessed by two metrics: the number of enhancers and the frequency of predicted enhancer interactions (PEIs) based on chromatin co-accessibility. We apply eNet algorithm to a human blood dataset and find cell identity and disease genes tend to be regulated by complex enhancer networks. The network hub enhancers (enhancers with frequent PEIs) are the most functionally important. Compared with super-enhancers, enhancer networks show better performance in predicting cell identity and disease genes. eNet is robust and widely applicable in various human or mouse tissues datasets. Thus, we propose a model of enhancer networks containing three modes: Simple, Multiple and Complex, which are distinguished by their complexity in regulating gene expression. Taken together, our work provides an unsupervised approach to simultaneously identify key cell identity and disease genes and explore the underlying regulatory relationships among enhancers in single cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danni Hong
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Hongli Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Lifang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Muya Shu
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Jianwu Dai
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Falong Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Mengsha Tong
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China.,National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Jialiang Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China.,National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
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15
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Shu M, Hong D, Lin H, Zhang J, Luo Z, Du Y, Sun Z, Yin M, Yin Y, Liu L, Bao S, Liu Z, Lu F, Huang J, Dai J. Single-cell chromatin accessibility identifies enhancer networks driving gene expression during spinal cord development in mouse. Dev Cell 2022; 57:2761-2775.e6. [PMID: 36495874 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2022.11.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2022] [Revised: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 11/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Spinal cord development is precisely orchestrated by spatiotemporal gene regulatory programs. However, the underlying epigenetic mechanisms remain largely elusive. Here, we profiled single-cell chromatin accessibility landscapes in mouse neural tubes spanning embryonic days 9.5-13.5. We identified neuronal-cell-cluster-specific cis-regulatory elements in neural progenitors and neurons. Furthermore, we applied a novel computational method, eNet, to build enhancer networks by integrating single-cell chromatin accessibility and gene expression data and identify the hub enhancers within enhancer networks. It was experimentally validated in vivo for Atoh1 that knockout of the hub enhancers, but not the non-hub enhancers, markedly decreased Atoh1 expression and reduced dp1/dI1 cells. Together, our work provides insights into the epigenetic regulation of spinal cord development and a proof-of-concept demonstration of enhancer networks as a general mechanism in transcriptional regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muya Shu
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Danni Hong
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Hongli Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Jixiang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Zhengnan Luo
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Yi Du
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Zheng Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Man Yin
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Yanyun Yin
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Lifang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Shilai Bao
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Zhiyong Liu
- Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Falong Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
| | - Jialiang Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China; National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361102, China.
| | - Jianwu Dai
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
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16
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Current challenges in understanding the role of enhancers in disease. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2022; 29:1148-1158. [PMID: 36482255 DOI: 10.1038/s41594-022-00896-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Enhancers play a central role in the spatiotemporal control of gene expression and tend to work in a cell-type-specific manner. In addition, they are suggested to be major contributors to phenotypic variation, evolution and disease. There is growing evidence that enhancer dysfunction due to genetic, structural or epigenetic mechanisms contributes to a broad range of human diseases referred to as enhanceropathies. Such mechanisms often underlie the susceptibility to common diseases, but can also play a direct causal role in cancer or Mendelian diseases. Despite the recent gain of insights into enhancer biology and function, we still have a limited ability to predict how enhancer dysfunction impacts gene expression. Here we discuss the major challenges that need to be overcome when studying the role of enhancers in disease etiology and highlight opportunities and directions for future studies, aiming to disentangle the molecular basis of enhanceropathies.
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17
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Super-enhancers conserved within placental mammals maintain stem cell pluripotency. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2204716119. [PMID: 36161929 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2204716119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite pluripotent stem cells sharing key transcription factors, their maintenance involves distinct genetic inputs. Emerging evidence suggests that super-enhancers (SEs) can function as master regulatory hubs to control cell identity and pluripotency in humans and mice. However, whether pluripotency-associated SEs share an evolutionary origin in mammals remains elusive. Here, we performed comprehensive comparative epigenomic and transcription factor binding analyses among pigs, humans, and mice to identify pluripotency-associated SEs. Like typical enhancers, SEs displayed rapid evolution in mammals. We showed that BRD4 is an essential and conserved activator for mammalian pluripotency-associated SEs. Comparative motif enrichment analysis revealed 30 shared transcription factor binding motifs among the three species. The majority of transcriptional factors that bind to identified motifs are known regulators associated with pluripotency. Further, we discovered three pluripotency-associated SEs (SE-SOX2, SE-PIM1, and SE-FGFR1) that displayed remarkable conservation in placental mammals and were sufficient to drive reporter gene expression in a pluripotency-dependent manner. Disruption of these conserved SEs through the CRISPR-Cas9 approach severely impaired stem cell pluripotency. Our study provides insights into the understanding of conserved regulatory mechanisms underlying the maintenance of pluripotency as well as species-specific modulation of the pluripotency-associated regulatory networks in mammals.
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18
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Romeike M, Spach S, Huber M, Feng S, Vainorius G, Elling U, Versteeg GA, Buecker C. Transient upregulation of IRF1 during exit from naive pluripotency confers viral protection. EMBO Rep 2022; 23:e55375. [PMID: 35852463 PMCID: PMC9442322 DOI: 10.15252/embr.202255375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Revised: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 06/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Stem cells intrinsically express a subset of genes which are normally associated with interferon stimulation and the innate immune response. However, the expression of these interferon‐stimulated genes (ISG) in stem cells is independent from external stimuli such as viral infection. Here, we show that the interferon regulatory factor 1, Irf1, is directly controlled by the murine formative pluripotency gene regulatory network and transiently upregulated during the transition from naive to formative pluripotency. IRF1 binds to regulatory regions of a conserved set of ISGs and is required for their faithful expression upon exit from naive pluripotency. We show that in the absence of IRF1, cells exiting the naive pluripotent stem cell state are more susceptible to viral infection. Irf1 therefore acts as a link between the formative pluripotency network, regulation of innate immunity genes, and defense against viral infections during formative pluripotency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Merrit Romeike
- Max Perutz Labs Vienna Vienna Biocenter (VBC), University of Vienna Vienna Austria
- Vienna Biocenter PhD Program A Doctoral School of the University of Vienna and Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria
| | - Stephanie Spach
- Max Perutz Labs Vienna Vienna Biocenter (VBC), University of Vienna Vienna Austria
| | - Marie Huber
- Max Perutz Labs Vienna Vienna Biocenter (VBC), University of Vienna Vienna Austria
| | - Songjie Feng
- Max Perutz Labs Vienna Vienna Biocenter (VBC), University of Vienna Vienna Austria
- Vienna Biocenter PhD Program A Doctoral School of the University of Vienna and Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria
| | - Gintautas Vainorius
- Vienna Biocenter PhD Program A Doctoral School of the University of Vienna and Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria
- Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Science (IMBA) Vienna Biocenter (VBC) Vienna Austria
| | - Ulrich Elling
- Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Science (IMBA) Vienna Biocenter (VBC) Vienna Austria
| | - Gjis A Versteeg
- Max Perutz Labs Vienna Vienna Biocenter (VBC), University of Vienna Vienna Austria
| | - Christa Buecker
- Max Perutz Labs Vienna Vienna Biocenter (VBC), University of Vienna Vienna Austria
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19
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Wang Z, Yan H, Boysen JC, Secreto CR, Tschumper RC, Ali D, Guo Q, Zhong J, Zhou J, Gan H, Yu C, Jelinek DF, Slager SL, Parikh SA, Braggio E, Kay NE. B cell receptor signaling drives APOBEC3 expression via direct enhancer regulation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia B cells. Blood Cancer J 2022; 12:99. [PMID: 35778390 PMCID: PMC9249768 DOI: 10.1038/s41408-022-00690-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Revised: 05/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Constitutively activated B cell receptor (BCR) signaling is a primary biological feature of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The biological events controlled by BCR signaling in CLL are not fully understood and need investigation. Here, by analysis of the chromatin states and gene expression profiles of CLL B cells from patients before and after Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi) ibrutinib treatment, we show that BTKi treatment leads to a decreased expression of APOBEC3 family genes by regulating the activity of their enhancers. BTKi treatment reduces enrichment of enhancer marks (H3K4me1 and H3K27ac) and chromatin accessibility at putative APOBEC3 enhancers. CRISPR-Cas9 directed deletion or inhibition of the putative APOBEC3 enhancers leads to reduced APOBEC3 expression. We further find that transcription factor NFATc1 couples BCR signaling with the APOBEC3 enhancer activity to control APOBEC3 expression. We also find that enhancer-regulated APOBEC3 expression contributes to replication stress in malignant B cells. In total we demonstrate a novel mechanism for BTKi suppression of APOBEC3 expression via direct enhancer regulation in an NFATc1-dependent manner, implicating BCR signaling as a potential regulator of leukemic genomic instability.
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MESH Headings
- APOBEC Deaminases/biosynthesis
- APOBEC Deaminases/genetics
- APOBEC Deaminases/metabolism
- Chromatin
- Humans
- Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell/genetics
- Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell/metabolism
- Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell/pathology
- Protein Kinase Inhibitors/pharmacology
- Pyrazoles/pharmacology
- Pyrimidines/pharmacology
- Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell/genetics
- Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell/metabolism
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiquan Wang
- Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
| | - Huihuang Yan
- Division of Computational Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA
| | - Justin C Boysen
- Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA
| | - Charla R Secreto
- Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA
| | | | - Dania Ali
- Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA
| | - Qianqian Guo
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA
| | - Jian Zhong
- Epigenomics Development Laboratory, Epigenomics Program, Center for Individualized Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA
| | - Jiaqi Zhou
- Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Haiyun Gan
- Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Chuanhe Yu
- The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, Austin, MN, 55912, USA
| | - Diane F Jelinek
- Department of Immunology, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, 85259, USA
| | - Susan L Slager
- Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA
- Division of Computational Biology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA
| | - Sameer A Parikh
- Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA
| | - Esteban Braggio
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, 85259, USA
| | - Neil E Kay
- Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
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20
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Enhanced transcriptional heterogeneity mediated by NF-κB super-enhancers. PLoS Genet 2022; 18:e1010235. [PMID: 35648786 PMCID: PMC9191726 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Revised: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The transcription factor NF-κB, which plays an important role in cell fate determination, is involved in the activation of super-enhancers (SEs). However, the biological functions of the NF-κB SEs in gene control are not fully elucidated. We investigated the characteristics of NF-κB-mediated SE activity using fluorescence imaging of RelA, single-cell transcriptome and chromatin accessibility analyses in anti-IgM-stimulated B cells. The formation of cell stimulation-induced nuclear RelA foci was abolished in the presence of hexanediol, suggesting an underlying process of liquid-liquid phase separation. The gained SEs induced a switch-like expression and enhanced cell-to-cell variability in transcriptional response. These properties were correlated with the number of gained cis-regulatory interactions, while switch-like gene induction was associated with the number of NF-κB binding sites in SE. Our study suggests that NF-κB SEs have an important role in the transcriptional regulation of B cells possibly through liquid condensate formation consisting of macromolecular interactions. NF-κB produces an all-or-none activation response upon the activation of B cell receptors. These dynamics modulate the amplitude and frequency of target mRNA induction in cell populations. In this research, we performed single-cell assessment of chromatin accessibility and RNA expression, coupled with fluorescence imaging to characterize the nuclear dynamics of NF-κB proteins in B cell upon receptor stimulation. We found that upon cellular activation, NF-κB-mediated long-range activation of enhancers cooperatively evoked RNA production. In addition, predicted DNA contacts brought by open chromatin led to the high heterogeneity of RNA levels in cell populations. Stimuli-dependent NF-κB foci formation was further inhibited by 1,6-hexanediol (liquid-liquid phase separation inhibitor) and JQ1 (coactivator protein BRD4 inhibitor). We thus propose that nuclear NF-κB plays an important role in the transcriptional regulation of B cell development possibly through the formation of liquid condensates.
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21
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Herrmann JC, Beagrie RA, Hughes JR. Making connections: enhancers in cellular differentiation. Trends Genet 2022; 38:395-408. [PMID: 34753603 DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 10/17/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Deciphering the process by which hundreds of distinct cell types emerge from a single zygote to form a complex multicellular organism remains one of the greatest challenges in biological research. Enhancers are known to be central to cell type-specific gene expression, yet many questions regarding how these genomic elements interact both temporally and spatially with other cis- and trans-acting factors to control transcriptional activity during differentiation and development remain unanswered. Here, we review our current understanding of the role of enhancers and their interactions in this context and highlight recent progress achieved with experimental methods of unprecedented resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer C Herrmann
- MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; MRC WIMM Centre for Computational Biology, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Robert A Beagrie
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Jim R Hughes
- MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; MRC WIMM Centre for Computational Biology, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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22
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Galouzis CC, Furlong EEM. Regulating specificity in enhancer-promoter communication. Curr Opin Cell Biol 2022; 75:102065. [PMID: 35240372 DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2022.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Revised: 01/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Enhancers are cis-regulatory elements that can activate transcription remotely to regulate a specific pattern of a gene's expression. Genes typically have many enhancers that are often intermingled in the loci of other genes. To regulate expression, enhancers must therefore activate their correct promoter while ignoring others that may be in closer linear proximity. In this review, we discuss mechanisms by which enhancers engage with promoters, including recent findings on the role of cohesin and the Mediator complex, and how this specificity in enhancer-promoter communication is encoded. Genetic dissection of model loci, in addition to more recent findings using genome-wide approaches, highlight the core promoter sequence, its accessibility, cofactor-promoter preference, in addition to the surrounding genomic context, as key components.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Eileen E M Furlong
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Genome Biology Unit, D-69117, Heidelberg, Germany.
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23
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Ji QY, Gong XJ, Li HM, Du PF. DeepSE: Detecting super-enhancers among typical enhancers using only sequence feature embeddings. Genomics 2021; 113:4052-4060. [PMID: 34666191 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2021.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Super-enhancer (SE) is a cluster of active typical enhancers (TE) with high levels of the Mediator complex, master transcriptional factors, and chromatin regulators. SEs play a key role in the control of cell identity and disease. Traditionally, scientists used a variety of high-throughput data of different transcriptional factors or chromatin marks to distinguish SEs from TEs. This kind of experimental methods are usually costly and time-consuming. In this paper, we proposed a model DeepSE, which is based on a deep convolutional neural network model, to distinguish the SEs from TEs. DeepSE represent the DNA sequences using the dna2vec feature embeddings. With only the DNA sequence information, DeepSE outperformed all state-of-the-art methods. In addition, DeepSE can be generalized well across different cell lines, which implied that cell-type specific SEs may share hidden sequence patterns across different cell lines. The source code and data are stored in GitHub (https://github.com/QiaoyingJi/DeepSE).
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiao-Ying Ji
- College of Intelligence and Computing, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Xiu-Jun Gong
- College of Intelligence and Computing, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Hao-Min Li
- College of Intelligence and Computing, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
| | - Pu-Feng Du
- College of Intelligence and Computing, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China.
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24
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Ray-Jones H, Spivakov M. Transcriptional enhancers and their communication with gene promoters. Cell Mol Life Sci 2021; 78:6453-6485. [PMID: 34414474 PMCID: PMC8558291 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-021-03903-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Transcriptional enhancers play a key role in the initiation and maintenance of gene expression programmes, particularly in metazoa. How these elements control their target genes in the right place and time is one of the most pertinent questions in functional genomics, with wide implications for most areas of biology. Here, we synthesise classic and recent evidence on the regulatory logic of enhancers, including the principles of enhancer organisation, factors that facilitate and delimit enhancer-promoter communication, and the joint effects of multiple enhancers. We show how modern approaches building on classic insights have begun to unravel the complexity of enhancer-promoter relationships, paving the way towards a quantitative understanding of gene control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen Ray-Jones
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, London, W12 0NN, UK
- Institute of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, W12 0NN, UK
| | - Mikhail Spivakov
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, London, W12 0NN, UK.
- Institute of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, W12 0NN, UK.
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25
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Ren X, Wang M, Li B, Jamieson K, Zheng L, Jones IR, Li B, Takagi MA, Lee J, Maliskova L, Tam TW, Yu M, Hu R, Lee L, Abnousi A, Li G, Li Y, Hu M, Ren B, Wang W, Shen Y. Parallel characterization of cis-regulatory elements for multiple genes using CRISPRpath. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabi4360. [PMID: 34524848 PMCID: PMC8443183 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abi4360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Current pooled CRISPR screens for cis-regulatory elements (CREs), based on transcriptional output changes, are typically limited to characterizing CREs of only one gene. Here, we describe CRISPRpath, a scalable screening strategy for parallelly characterizing CREs of genes linked to the same biological pathway and converging phenotypes. We demonstrate the ability of CRISPRpath for simultaneously identifying functional enhancers of six genes in the 6-thioguanine–induced DNA mismatch repair pathway using both CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) and CRISPR nuclease (CRISPRn) approaches. Sixty percent of the identified enhancers are known promoters with distinct epigenomic features compared to other active promoters, including increased chromatin accessibility and interactivity. Furthermore, by imposing different levels of selection pressure, CRISPRpath can distinguish enhancers exerting strong impact on gene expression from those exerting weak impact. Our results offer a nuanced view of cis-regulation and demonstrate that CRISPRpath can be leveraged for understanding the complex gene regulatory program beyond transcriptional output at scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingjie Ren
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Mengchi Wang
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Bingkun Li
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Kirsty Jamieson
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Lina Zheng
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Ian R. Jones
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Bin Li
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Maya Asami Takagi
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Jerry Lee
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Lenka Maliskova
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Tsz Wai Tam
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Miao Yu
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Rong Hu
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Lindsay Lee
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Armen Abnousi
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Gang Li
- Department of Statistics and Operations Research, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Yun Li
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Ming Hu
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Bing Ren
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Wei Wang
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Yin Shen
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
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26
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Kai Y, Li BE, Zhu M, Li GY, Chen F, Han Y, Cha HJ, Orkin SH, Cai W, Huang J, Yuan GC. Mapping the evolving landscape of super-enhancers during cell differentiation. Genome Biol 2021; 22:269. [PMID: 34526084 PMCID: PMC8442463 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02485-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Accepted: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Super-enhancers are clusters of enhancer elements that play critical roles in the maintenance of cell identity. Current investigations on super-enhancers are centered on the established ones in static cell types. How super-enhancers are established during cell differentiation remains obscure. Results Here, by developing an unbiased approach to systematically analyze the evolving landscape of super-enhancers during cell differentiation in multiple lineages, we discover a general trend where super-enhancers emerge through three distinct temporal patterns: conserved, temporally hierarchical, and de novo. The three types of super-enhancers differ further in association patterns in target gene expression, functional enrichment, and 3D chromatin organization, suggesting they may represent distinct structural and functional subtypes. Furthermore, we dissect the enhancer repertoire within temporally hierarchical super-enhancers, and find enhancers that emerge at early and late stages are enriched with distinct transcription factors, suggesting that the temporal order of establishment of elements within super-enhancers may be directed by underlying DNA sequence. CRISPR-mediated deletion of individual enhancers in differentiated cells shows that both the early- and late-emerged enhancers are indispensable for target gene expression, while in undifferentiated cells early enhancers are involved in the regulation of target genes. Conclusions In summary, our analysis highlights the heterogeneity of the super-enhancer population and provides new insights to enhancer functions within super-enhancers. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13059-021-02485-x.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Kai
- Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Bin E Li
- Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Ming Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, Fujian, China
| | - Grace Y Li
- Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Fei Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, Fujian, China
| | - Yingli Han
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, Fujian, China
| | - Hye Ji Cha
- Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Stuart H Orkin
- Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Wenqing Cai
- Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Boston Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
| | - Jialiang Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, Fujian, China.
| | - Guo-Cheng Yuan
- Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. .,Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Charles Bronfman Institute for Precision Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
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27
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Abstract
The world of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has opened up massive new prospects in understanding the regulation of gene expression. Not only are there seemingly almost infinite numbers of lncRNAs in the mammalian cell, but they have highly diverse mechanisms of action. In the nucleus, some are chromatin-associated, transcribed from transcriptional enhancers (eRNAs) and/or direct changes in the epigenetic landscape with profound effects on gene expression. The pituitary gonadotrope is responsible for activation of reproduction through production and secretion of appropriate levels of the gonadotropic hormones. As such, it exemplifies a cell whose function is defined through changes in developmental and temporal patterns of gene expression, including those that are hormonally induced. Roles for diverse distal regulatory elements and eRNAs in gonadotrope biology have only just begun to emerge. Here, we will present an overview of the different kinds of lncRNAs that alter gene expression, and what is known about their roles in regulating some of the key gonadotrope genes. We will also review various screens that have detected differentially expressed pituitary lncRNAs associated with changes in reproductive state and those whose expression is found to play a role in gonadotrope-derived nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas. We hope to shed light on this exciting new field, emphasize the open questions, and encourage research to illuminate the roles of lncRNAs in various endocrine systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tal Refael
- Faculty of Biology, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel
| | - Philippa Melamed
- Faculty of Biology, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel
- Correspondence: Philippa Melamed, PhD, Faculty of Biology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
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28
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Enhancers navigate the three-dimensional genome to direct cell fate decisions. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2021; 71:101-109. [PMID: 34280668 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2021.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
The activity and selectivity of transcriptional enhancers determine gene expression patterns that enable a zygote to become a complex organism. How enhancers convey regulatory information is a central conundrum in biology. Here, we discuss recent progress provided by rapidly evolving technologies in understanding enhancer-promoter interactions in the context of overall nuclear genome organization.
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29
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Agrawal P, Rao S. Super-Enhancers and CTCF in Early Embryonic Cell Fate Decisions. Front Cell Dev Biol 2021; 9:653669. [PMID: 33842482 PMCID: PMC8027350 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.653669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Cell fate decisions are the backbone of many developmental and disease processes. In early mammalian development, precise gene expression changes underly the rapid division of a single cell that leads to the embryo and are critically dependent on autonomous cell changes in gene expression. To understand how these lineage specifications events are mediated, scientists have had to look past protein coding genes to the cis regulatory elements (CREs), including enhancers and insulators, that modulate gene expression. One class of enhancers, termed super-enhancers, is highly active and cell-type specific, implying their critical role in modulating cell-type specific gene expression. Deletion or mutations within these CREs adversely affect gene expression and development and can cause disease. In this mini-review we discuss recent studies describing the potential roles of two CREs, enhancers and binding sites for CTCF, in early mammalian development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puja Agrawal
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Versiti Blood Research Institute, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Sridhar Rao
- Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Versiti Blood Research Institute, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
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