Project description:To determine if there is a physical interaction between the FOXF1 promoter and putative enhancer sequences ~250kb upstream of the promoter chromosome conformation capture-on-chip (4C) analysis was performed. An unanticipated and tremendous amount of the non-coding sequences of the human genome are transcribed. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-protein coding transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides and their functions remain enigmatic. We demonstrate that deletions of lncRNA genes cause a lethal lung developmental disorder, Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia with Misalignment of Pulmonary Veins (ACD/MPV), with parent of origin effects. We identify non-coding overlapping deletions 250 kb upstream to FOXF1 in nine patients with ACD/MPV that arose de novo specifically on the maternally inherited chromosome and delete a fetal lung-specific EST, part of an lncRNA. These deletions define distant cis-regulatory region that harbors a differentially methylated CpG island, binds GLI2 depending on the methylation status of this CpG island, and physically interacts with and up-regulates the FOXF1 promoter, consistent with the absence of the fetal lung-transcribed lncRNA perturbing FOXF1 regulation. LncRNA-mediated chromatin interactions may be responsible for position effect phenomenon and potentially cause many disorders of human development. 4C analysis using 16q24.1 specific 3x720K arrays demonstrated physical interaction between the FOXF1 promoter and distant putative regulatory sequences, about 250 kb upstream in human pulomonary microvascular endothelial cells; 2 biological replicates performed; this chromatin looping was not detected in lymphoblasts that do not express FOXF1 and hence serve as a negative control.
Project description:To determine if there is a physical interaction between the FOXF1 promoter and putative enhancer sequences ~250kb upstream of the promoter chromosome conformation capture-on-chip (4C) analysis was performed. An unanticipated and tremendous amount of the non-coding sequences of the human genome are transcribed. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-protein coding transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides and their functions remain enigmatic. We demonstrate that deletions of lncRNA genes cause a lethal lung developmental disorder, Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia with Misalignment of Pulmonary Veins (ACD/MPV), with parent of origin effects. We identify non-coding overlapping deletions 250 kb upstream to FOXF1 in nine patients with ACD/MPV that arose de novo specifically on the maternally inherited chromosome and delete a fetal lung-specific EST, part of an lncRNA. These deletions define distant cis-regulatory region that harbors a differentially methylated CpG island, binds GLI2 depending on the methylation status of this CpG island, and physically interacts with and up-regulates the FOXF1 promoter, consistent with the absence of the fetal lung-transcribed lncRNA perturbing FOXF1 regulation. LncRNA-mediated chromatin interactions may be responsible for position effect phenomenon and potentially cause many disorders of human development.
Project description:Substantial evidence supports the hypothesis that enhancers are critical regulators of cell type determination, orchestrating both positive and negative transcriptional programs; however, the basic mechanisms by which enhancers orchestrate interactions with cognate promoters during activation and repression events remain incompletely understood. Here we report the required actions of the LIM domain binding protein, LDB1/CLIM2/NLI, interacting with the enhancer binding protein, ASCL1, to mediate looping to target gene promoters and target gene regulation in corticotrope cells. LDB1-mediated enhancer:promoter looping appears to be required for both activation and repression of these target target gene promoter genes. While LDB1-dependend activated genes are regulated at the level of transcriptional initiation, the LDB1-dependent repressed transcription units appear to be regulated primarily at the level of promoter pausing, with LDB1 regulating recruitment of MTA2, a component of the NuRD complex, on these negative enhancers, required for the repressive enhancer function. These results indicate that LDB1-dependent looping events can deliver repressive cargo to cognate promoters to mediate promoter pausing events in a pituitary cell type. ChIP assay followed by high throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq)
Project description:The most prominent model for long-range enhancer regulation involves direct enhancer-promoter interaction by looping out the intervening chromatin. Using a synthetic biology approach, we have determined that a chromatin unfolding bteween Shh and its enhancers is regulated specifically by the Shh-Brain-Enhancers and is mediated by the recruitment of Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase 1. This ‘chromatin unfolding’ model represents a new mechanism of long-range enhancer-promoter communication in addition to the looping and tracking models. Using 5C study the enhancer-driven activation of the Sonic hedgehog gene (Shh)
Project description:This study provides a map of enhancer-promoter interactions in the intestinal epithelium. We find that key drivers of intestinal differentiation, HNF4 transcription factors, are required for enhancer-promoter interactions at their direct target genes. Depletion of HNF4 disrupts chromatin looping, nearby enhancer chromatin, and target gene expression.
Project description:Enhancers play key roles in gene regulation. However, comprehensive enhancer discovery is challenging because most enhancers, especially those affected in complex diseases, have weak effects on gene expression. Through gene regulatory network modeling, we identified that dynamic cell state transitions, a critical missing component in prevalent enhancer discovery strategies, can be utilized to improve the cells’ sensitivity to enhancer perturbation. Guided by the modeling results, we performed a mid-transition CRISPRi-based enhancer screen utilizing human embryonic stem cell definitive endoderm differentiation as a dynamic transition system. The screen discovered a comprehensive set of enhancers (4 to 9 per locus) for each of the core lineage-specifying transcription factors (TFs), including many enhancers with weak to moderate effects. Integrating the screening results with enhancer activity measurements (ATAC-seq, H3K27ac ChIP-seq) and three-dimensional enhancer-promoter interaction information (CTCF looping, Hi-C), we were able to develop a CTCF loop-constrained Interaction Activity (CIA) model that can better predict functional enhancers compared to models that rely on Hi-C-based enhancer-promoter contact frequency. Together, our dynamic network-guided enhancer screen and the CIA enhancer prediction model provide generalizable strategies for sensitive and more comprehensive enhancer discovery in both normal and pathological cell state transitions.