Widespread reorganisation of pluripotent factor binding and gene regulatory interactions between human pluripotent states

The nuclear matrix stabilizes primed-specific genes in human pluripotent stem cells

The nuclear matrix, a proteinaceous gel composed of proteins and RNA, is an important nuclear structure that supports chromatin architecture, but its role in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has not been described. Here we show that by disrupting heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U (HNRNPU) or the nuclear matrix protein, Matrin-3, primed hPSCs adopted features of the naive pluripotent state, including morphology and upregulation of naive-specific marker genes. We demonstrate that HNRNPU depletion leads to increased chromatin accessibility, reduced DNA contacts and increased nuclear size. Mechanistically, HNRNPU acts as a transcriptional co-factor that anchors promoters of primed-specific genes to the nuclear matrix with POLII to promote their expression and their RNA stability. Overall, HNRNPU promotes cell-type stability and when reduced promotes conversion to earlier embryonic states.

Transposable element activity captures human pluripotent cell states

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) exist in multiple, transcriptionally distinct states and serve as powerful models for studying human development. Despite their significance, the molecular determinants and pathways governing these pluripotent states remain incompletely understood. Here, we demonstrate that transposable elements act as sensitive indicators of distinct pluripotent cell states. We engineered hPSCs with fluorescent reporters to capture the temporal expression dynamics of two state-specific transposable elements, LTR5_Hs, and MER51B. This dual reporter system enables real-time monitoring and isolation of stem cells transitioning from naïve to primed pluripotency and further towards differentiation, serving as a more accurate readout of pluripotency states compared to conventional systems. Unexpectedly, we identified a rare, metastable cell population within primed hPSCs, marked by transcripts related to preimplantation embryo development and which is associated with a DNA damage response. Moreover, our system establishes the chromatin factor NSD1 and the RNA-binding protein FUS as potent molecular safeguards of primed pluripotency. Our study introduces a novel system for investigating cellular potency and provides key insights into the regulation of embryonic development.

Improved simultaneous mapping of epigenetic features and 3D chromatin structure via ViCAR

Methods to measure chromatin contacts at genomic regions bound by histone modifications or proteins are important tools to investigate chromatin organization. However, such methods do not capture the possible involvement of other epigenomic features such as G-quadruplex DNA secondary structures (G4s). To bridge this gap, we introduce ViCAR (viewpoint HiCAR), for the direct antibody-based capture of chromatin interactions at folded G4s. Through ViCAR, we showcase the first G4-3D interaction landscape. Using histone marks, we also demonstrate how ViCAR improves on earlier approaches yielding increased signal-to-noise. ViCAR is a practical and powerful tool to explore epigenetic marks and 3D genome interactomes.

MICA: a multi-omics method to predict gene regulatory networks in early human embryos

Recent advances in single-cell omics have transformed characterisation of cell types in challenging-to-study biological contexts. In contexts with limited single-cell samples, such as the early human embryo inference of transcription factor-gene regulatory network (GRN) interactions is especially difficult. Here, we assessed application of different linear or non-linear GRN predictions to single-cell simulated and human embryo transcriptome datasets. We also compared how expression normalisation impacts on GRN predictions, finding that transcripts per million reads outperformed alternative methods. GRN inferences were more reproducible using a non-linear method based on mutual information (MI) applied to single-cell transcriptome datasets refined with chromatin accessibility (CA) (called MICA), compared with alternative network prediction methods tested. MICA captures complex non-monotonic dependencies and feedback loops. Using MICA, we generated the first GRN inferences in early human development. MICA predicted co-localisation of the AP-1 transcription factor subunit proto-oncogene JUND and the TFAP2C transcription factor AP-2γ in early human embryos. Overall, our comparative analysis of GRN prediction methods defines a pipeline that can be applied to single-cell multi-omics datasets in especially challenging contexts to infer interactions between transcription factor expression and target gene regulation.

Through the lens of phase separation: intrinsically unstructured protein and chromatin looping

The establishment, maintenance and dynamic regulation of three-dimensional (3D) chromatin structures provide an important means for partitioning of genome into functionally distinctive domains, which helps to define specialized gene expression programs associated with developmental stages and cell types. Increasing evidence supports critical roles for intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) harbored within transcription factors (TFs) and chromatin-modulatory proteins in inducing phase separation, a phenomenon of forming membrane-less condensates through partitioning of biomolecules. Such a process is also critically involved in the establishment of high-order chromatin structures and looping. IDR- and phase separation-driven 3D genome (re)organization often goes wrong in disease such as cancer. This review discusses about recent advances in understanding how phase separation of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) modulates chromatin looping and gene expression.

H3K27me3 spreading organizes canonical PRC1 chromatin architecture to regulate developmental programs

Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2)-mediated histone H3K27 tri-methylation (H3K27me3) recruits canonical PRC1 (cPRC1) to maintain heterochromatin. In early development, polycomb-regulated genes are connected through long-range 3D interactions which resolve upon differentiation. Here, we report that polycomb looping is controlled by H3K27me3 spreading and regulates target gene silencing and cell fate specification. Using glioma-derived H3 Lys-27-Met (H3K27M) mutations as tools to restrict H3K27me3 deposition, we show that H3K27me3 confinement concentrates the chromatin pool of cPRC1, resulting in heightened 3D interactions mirroring chromatin architecture of pluripotency, and stringent gene repression that maintains cells in progenitor states to facilitate tumor development. Conversely, H3K27me3 spread in pluripotent stem cells, following neural differentiation or loss of the H3K36 methyltransferase NSD1, dilutes cPRC1 concentration and dissolves polycomb loops. These results identify the regulatory principles and disease implications of polycomb looping and nominate histone modification-guided distribution of reader complexes as an important mechanism for nuclear compartment organization.

Highlights

The confinement of H3K27me3 at PRC2 nucleation sites without its spreading correlates with increased 3D chromatin interactions.The H3K27M oncohistone concentrates canonical PRC1 that anchors chromatin loop interactions in gliomas, silencing developmental programs.Stem and progenitor cells require factors promoting H3K27me3 confinement, including H3K36me2, to maintain cPRC1 loop architecture.The cPRC1-H3K27me3 interaction is a targetable driver of aberrant self-renewal in tumor cells.

Epigenetic dynamics during capacitation of naïve human pluripotent stem cells

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are of fundamental relevance in regenerative medicine. Naïve hPSCs hold promise to overcome some of the limitations of conventional (primed) hPSCs, including recurrent epigenetic anomalies. Naïve-to-primed transition (capacitation) follows transcriptional dynamics of human embryonic epiblast and is necessary for somatic differentiation from naïve hPSCs. We found that capacitated hPSCs are transcriptionally closer to postimplantation epiblast than conventional hPSCs. This prompted us to comprehensively study epigenetic and related transcriptional changes during capacitation. Our results show that CpG islands, gene regulatory elements, and retrotransposons are hotspots of epigenetic dynamics during capacitation and indicate possible distinct roles of specific epigenetic modifications in gene expression control between naïve and primed hPSCs. Unexpectedly, PRC2 activity appeared to be dispensable for the capacitation. We find that capacitated hPSCs acquire an epigenetic state similar to conventional hPSCs. Significantly, however, the X chromosome erosion frequently observed in conventional female hPSCs is reversed by resetting and subsequent capacitation.

Network models of chromatin structure

Increasing numbers of datasets and experimental assays that capture the organization of chromatin inside the nucleus warrant an effort to develop tools to visualize and analyze these structures. Alongside polymer physics or constraint-based modeling, network theory approaches to describe 3D epigenome organization have gained in popularity. Representing genomic regions as nodes in a network enables visualization of 1D epigenomics datasets in the context of chromatin structure maps, while network theory metrics can be used to describe 3D epigenome organization and dynamics. In this review, we summarize the most salient applications of network theory to the study of chromatin contact maps, demonstrating its potential in revealing epigenomic patterns and relating them to cellular phenotypes.

Evidence for low nanocompaction of heterochromatin in living embryonic stem cells

Despite advances in the identification of chromatin regulators and genome interactions, the principles of higher-order chromatin structure have remained elusive. Here, we applied FLIM-FRET microscopy to analyse, in living cells, the spatial organisation of nanometre range proximity between nucleosomes, which we called "nanocompaction." Both in naive embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and in ESC-derived epiblast-like cells (EpiLCs), we find that, contrary to expectations, constitutive heterochromatin is much less compacted than bulk chromatin. The opposite was observed in fixed cells. HP1α knockdown increased nanocompaction in living ESCs, but this was overridden by loss of HP1β, indicating the existence of a dynamic HP1-dependent low compaction state in pluripotent cells. Depletion of H4K20me2/3 abrogated nanocompaction, while increased H4K20me3 levels accompanied the nuclear reorganisation during EpiLCs induction. Finally, the knockout of the nuclear cellular-proliferation marker Ki-67 strongly reduced both interphase and mitotic heterochromatin nanocompaction in ESCs. Our data indicate that, contrary to prevailing models, heterochromatin is not highly compacted at the nanoscale but resides in a dynamic low nanocompaction state that depends on H4K20me2/3, the balance between HP1 isoforms, and Ki-67.

NANOGP1, a tandem duplicate of NANOG, exhibits partial functional conservation in human naïve pluripotent stem cells

Gene duplication events can drive evolution by providing genetic material for new gene functions, and they create opportunities for diverse developmental strategies to emerge between species. To study the contribution of duplicated genes to human early development, we examined the evolution and function of NANOGP1, a tandem duplicate of the transcription factor NANOG. We found that NANOGP1 and NANOG have overlapping but distinct expression profiles, with high NANOGP1 expression restricted to early epiblast cells and naïve-state pluripotent stem cells. Sequence analysis and epitope-tagging revealed that NANOGP1 is protein coding with an intact homeobox domain. The duplication that created NANOGP1 occurred earlier in primate evolution than previously thought and has been retained only in great apes, whereas Old World monkeys have disabled the gene in different ways, including homeodomain point mutations. NANOGP1 is a strong inducer of naïve pluripotency; however, unlike NANOG, it is not required to maintain the undifferentiated status of human naïve pluripotent cells. By retaining expression, sequence and partial functional conservation with its ancestral copy, NANOGP1 exemplifies how gene duplication and subfunctionalisation can contribute to transcription factor activity in human pluripotency and development.

3D chromatin connectivity underlies replication origin efficiency in mouse embryonic stem cells

In mammalian cells, chromosomal replication starts at thousands of origins at which replisomes are assembled. Replicative stress triggers additional initiation events from 'dormant' origins whose genomic distribution and regulation are not well understood. In this study, we have analyzed origin activity in mouse embryonic stem cells in the absence or presence of mild replicative stress induced by aphidicolin, a DNA polymerase inhibitor, or by deregulation of origin licensing factor CDC6. In both cases, we observe that the majority of stress-responsive origins are also active in a small fraction of the cell population in a normal S phase, and stress increases their frequency of activation. In a search for the molecular determinants of origin efficiency, we compared the genetic and epigenetic features of origins displaying different levels of activation, and integrated their genomic positions in three-dimensional chromatin interaction networks derived from high-depth Hi-C and promoter-capture Hi-C data. We report that origin efficiency is directly proportional to the proximity to transcriptional start sites and to the number of contacts established between origin-containing chromatin fragments, supporting the organization of origins in higher-level DNA replication factories.

3D genome organization links non-coding disease-associated variants to genes

Genome sequencing has revealed over 300 million genetic variations in human populations. Over 90% of variants are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the remainder include short deletions or insertions, and small numbers of structural variants. Hundreds of thousands of these variants have been associated with specific phenotypic traits and diseases through genome wide association studies which link significant differences in variant frequencies with specific phenotypes among large groups of individuals. Only 5% of disease-associated SNPs are located in gene coding sequences, with the potential to disrupt gene expression or alter of the function of encoded proteins. The remaining 95% of disease-associated SNPs are located in non-coding DNA sequences which make up 98% of the genome. The role of non-coding, disease-associated SNPs, many of which are located at considerable distances from any gene, was at first a mystery until the discovery that gene promoters regularly interact with distal regulatory elements to control gene expression. Disease-associated SNPs are enriched at the millions of gene regulatory elements that are dispersed throughout the non-coding sequences of the genome, suggesting they function as gene regulation variants. Assigning specific regulatory elements to the genes they control is not straightforward since they can be millions of base pairs apart. In this review we describe how understanding 3D genome organization can identify specific interactions between gene promoters and distal regulatory elements and how 3D genomics can link disease-associated SNPs to their target genes. Understanding which gene or genes contribute to a specific disease is the first step in designing rational therapeutic interventions.

Modulation of the high-order chromatin structure by Polycomb complexes

The multi-subunit Polycomb Repressive Complex (PRC) 1 and 2 act, either independently or synergistically, to maintain and enforce a repressive state of the target chromatin, thereby regulating the processes of cell lineage specification and organismal development. In recent years, deep sequencing-based and imaging-based technologies, especially those tailored for mapping three-dimensional (3D) chromatin organization and structure, have allowed a better understanding of the PRC complex-mediated long-range chromatin contacts and DNA looping. In this review, we review current advances as for how Polycomb complexes function to modulate and help define the high-order chromatin structure and topology, highlighting the multi-faceted roles of Polycomb proteins in gene and genome regulation.

SOX2 transcription factor binding and function

The transcription factor SOX2 is a vital regulator of stem cell activity in various developing and adult tissues. Mounting evidence has demonstrated the importance of SOX2 in regulating the induction and maintenance of stemness as well as in controlling cell proliferation, lineage decisions and differentiation. Recent studies have revealed that the ability of SOX2 to regulate these stem cell features involves its function as a pioneer factor, with the capacity to target nucleosomal DNA, modulate chromatin accessibility and prepare silent genes for subsequent activation. Moreover, although SOX2 binds to similar DNA motifs in different stem cells, its multifaceted and cell type-specific functions are reliant on context-dependent features. These cell type-specific properties include variations in partner factor availability and SOX2 protein expression levels. In this Primer, we discuss recent findings that have increased our understanding of how SOX2 executes its versatile functions as a master regulator of stem cell activities.

Integrated multi-omics reveal polycomb repressive complex 2 restricts human trophoblast induction

Human naive pluripotent stem cells have unrestricted lineage potential. Underpinning this property, naive cells are thought to lack chromatin-based lineage barriers. However, this assumption has not been tested. Here we define the chromatin-associated proteome, histone post-translational modifications and transcriptome of human naive and primed pluripotent stem cells. Our integrated analysis reveals differences in the relative abundance and activities of distinct chromatin modules. We identify a strong enrichment of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2)-associated H3K27me3 in the chromatin of naive pluripotent stem cells and H3K27me3 enrichment at promoters of lineage-determining genes, including trophoblast regulators. PRC2 activity acts as a chromatin barrier restricting the differentiation of naive cells towards the trophoblast lineage, whereas inhibition of PRC2 promotes trophoblast-fate induction and cavity formation in human blastoids. Together, our results establish that human naive pluripotent stem cells are not epigenetically unrestricted, but instead possess chromatin mechanisms that oppose the induction of alternative cell fates.

Two side-by-side papers report that H3K27me3 deposited by polycomb repressive complex 2 represents an epigenetic barrier that restricts naive human pluripotent cell differentiation into alternative lineages including trophoblasts.

Enhancer-Promoter Communication: It's Not Just About Contact

Cis-regulatory elements such as enhancers can be located even a million base pairs away from their cognate promoter and yet modulate gene transcription. Indeed, the 3D organisation of chromatin enables the establishment of long-range enhancer-promoter communication. The observation of long-range enhancer-promoter chromatin loops at active genes originally led to a model in which enhancers and promoters form physical contacts between each other to control transcription. Yet, recent microscopy data has challenged this prevailing activity-by-contact model of enhancer-promoter communication in transcriptional activation. Live single-cell imaging approaches do not systematically reveal a correlation between enhancer-proximity and transcriptional activation. We therefore discuss the need to move from a static to a dynamic view of enhancer-promoter relationships. We highlight recent studies that not only reveal considerable chromatin movement in specific cell types, but suggest links between chromatin compaction, chromatin movement and transcription. We describe the interplay between enhancer-promoter proximity within the context of biomolecular condensates and the need to understand how condensate microenvironments influence the chromatin binding kinetics of proteins that bind at cis-regulatory elements to activate transcription. Finally, given the complex multi-scale interplay between regulatory proteins, enhancer-promoter proximity and movement, we propose the need to integrate information from complementary single-cell next-generation sequencing and live-cell imaging approaches to derive unified 3D theoretical models of enhancer-promoter communication that are ultimately predictive of transcriptional output and cell fate. In time, improved models will shed light on how tissues grow and diseases emerge.

Targeting HNRNPM Inhibits Cancer Stemness and Enhances Antitumor Immunity in Wnt-activated Hepatocellular Carcinoma

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Cancer stemness and immune evasion are closely associated and play critical roles in tumor development and resistance to immunotherapy. However, little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms that coordinate this association.

METHODS

The expressions of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein M (HNRNPM) in 240 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples, public databases, and liver development databases were analyzed. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays were performed to explore the associations between stem-cell transcription factors and HNRNPM. HNRNPM-regulated alternative splicing (AS) and its binding motif were identified by RNA-seq and RIP-seq. HNRNPM-specific antisense oligonucleotides were developed to explore potential therapeutic targets in HCC. CD8+ T cells that were co-cultured with tumor cells were sorted by flow cytometry assays.

RESULTS

We identified an elevated oncofetal splicing factor in HCC, HNRNPM, that unifies and regulates the positive association between cancer stemness and immune evasion. HNRNPM knockdown abolished HCC tumorigenesis and diminished cancer stem cell properties in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, HNRNPM regulated the AS of MBD2 by binding its flanking introns, whose isoforms played opposing roles. Although MBD2a and MBD2c competitively bound to CpG islands in the FZD3 promoter, MBD2a preferentially increased FZD3 expression and then activated the WNT/β-catenin pathway. Interestingly, FZD3 and β-catenin further provided additional regulation by targeting OCT4 and SOX2. We found that HNRNPM inhibition significantly promoted CD8+ T cell activation and that HNRNPM- antisense oligonucleotides effectively inhibited WNT/β-catenin to enhance anti-programmed cell death protein-1 immunotherapy by promoting CD8+ T cell infiltration.

CONCLUSIONS

HNRNPM has a tumor-intrinsic function in generating an immunosuppressive HCC environment through an AS-dependent mechanism and demonstrates proof of the concept of targeting HNRNPM in tailoring HCC immunotherapeutic approaches.

CCCTC-binding factor is an upstream regulator of the pluripotency factor Oct4 and functions in active transcription of linc1253 and linc1356 genes in pluripotent cells

The embryonic stem cell- (ESC) specific transcription factor Oct4 is a well-known master regulator of pluripotency. The aim of this study was to identify upstream regulators of Oct4 and explore their functional link in regulating lincRNA expression in ESCs. By quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis upon CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) or Oct4 knockdown, here, we found that the chromatin insulator CTCF transcriptionally controls Oct4 gene expression in mouse ES cells. Furthermore, co-immunoprecipitation assays showed that CTCF physically interacts with Oct4. By analyzing CTCF and Oct4 ChIP-seq datasets in mouse ES cells and investigating their genomic occupancies, we demonstrated that CTCF and Oct4 share overlapping regulatory functions and are required for active transcription of long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) linc1253 and linc1356, which were reported to repress cellular lineage programs and maintain a pluripotent state. In summary, we propose an integrated model of transcriptional control mediated by CTCF, the master weaver of the genome, for the upstream regulation of Oct4-and ESC-associated genes. These results connect the chromatin insulator CTCF and the pluripotency factor Oct4 in the regulation of lincRNAs in pluripotent cells.

Chromatin Network Analyses: Towards Structure-Function Relationships in Epigenomics

Recent technological advances have allowed us to map chromatin conformation and uncover the genome's spatial organization of the genome inside the nucleus. These experiments have revealed the complexities of genome folding, characterized by the presence of loops and domains at different scales, which can change across development and in different cell types. There is strong evidence for a relationship between the topological properties of chromatin contacts and cellular phenotype. Chromatin can be represented as a network, in which genomic fragments are the nodes and connections represent experimentally observed spatial proximity of two genomically distant regions in a specific cell type or biological condition. With this approach we can consider a variety of chromatin features in association with the 3D structure, investigating how nuclear chromatin organization can be related to gene regulation, replication, malignancy, phenotypic variability and plasticity. We briefly review the results obtained on genome architecture through network theoretic approaches. As previously observed in protein-protein interaction networks and many types of non-biological networks, external conditions could shape network topology through a yet unidentified structure-function relationship. Similar to scientists studying the brain, we are confronted with a duality between a spatially embedded network of physical contacts, a related network of correlation in the dynamics of network nodes and, finally, an abstract definition of function of this network, related to phenotype. We summarise major developments in the study of networks in other fields, which we think can suggest a path towards better understanding how 3D genome configuration can impact biological function and adaptation to the environment.

Transcriptional enhancers and their communication with gene promoters

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.

Detecting chromosomal interactions in Capture Hi-C data with CHiCAGO and companion tools

Capture Hi-C is widely used to obtain high-resolution profiles of chromosomal interactions involving, at least on one end, regions of interest such as gene promoters. Signal detection in Capture Hi-C data is challenging and cannot be adequately accomplished with tools developed for other chromosome conformation capture methods, including standard Hi-C. Capture Hi-C Analysis of Genomic Organization (CHiCAGO) is a computational pipeline developed specifically for Capture Hi-C analysis. It implements a statistical model accounting for biological and technical background components, as well as bespoke normalization and multiple testing procedures for this data type. Here we provide a step-by-step guide to the CHiCAGO workflow that is aimed at users with basic experience of the command line and R. We also describe more advanced strategies for tuning the key parameters for custom experiments and provide guidance on data preprocessing and downstream analysis using companion tools. In a typical experiment, CHiCAGO takes ~2-3 h to run, although pre- and postprocessing steps may take much longer.

TGFβ signalling is required to maintain pluripotency of human naïve pluripotent stem cells

The signalling pathways that maintain primed human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have been well characterised, revealing a critical role for TGFβ/Activin/Nodal signalling. In contrast, the signalling requirements of naive human pluripotency have not been fully established. Here, we demonstrate that TGFβ signalling is required to maintain naive hPSCs. The downstream effector proteins - SMAD2/3 - bind common sites in naive and primed hPSCs, including shared pluripotency genes. In naive hPSCs, SMAD2/3 additionally bind to active regulatory regions near to naive pluripotency genes. Inhibiting TGFβ signalling in naive hPSCs causes the downregulation of SMAD2/3-target genes and pluripotency exit. Single-cell analyses reveal that naive and primed hPSCs follow different transcriptional trajectories after inhibition of TGFβ signalling. Primed hPSCs differentiate into neuroectoderm cells, whereas naive hPSCs transition into trophectoderm. These results establish that there is a continuum for TGFβ pathway function in human pluripotency spanning a developmental window from naive to primed states.