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Kaplan SJ, Wong W, Yan J, Pulecio J, Cho HS, Li Q, Zhao J, Leslie-Iyer J, Kazakov J, Murphy D, Luo R, Dey KK, Apostolou E, Leslie CS, Huangfu D. CRISPR Screening Uncovers a Long-Range Enhancer for ONECUT1 in Pancreatic Differentiation and Links a Diabetes Risk Variant. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.26.591412. [PMID: 38746154 PMCID: PMC11092487 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.26.591412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Functional enhancer annotation is a valuable first step for understanding tissue-specific transcriptional regulation and prioritizing disease-associated non-coding variants for investigation. However, unbiased enhancer discovery in physiologically relevant contexts remains a major challenge. To discover regulatory elements pertinent to diabetes, we conducted a CRISPR interference screen in the human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) pancreatic differentiation system. Among the enhancers uncovered, we focused on a long-range enhancer ∼664 kb from the ONECUT1 promoter, since coding mutations in ONECUT1 cause pancreatic hypoplasia and neonatal diabetes. Homozygous enhancer deletion in hPSCs was associated with a near-complete loss of ONECUT1 gene expression and compromised pancreatic differentiation. This enhancer contains a confidently fine-mapped type 2 diabetes associated variant (rs528350911) which disrupts a GATA motif. Introduction of the risk variant into hPSCs revealed substantially reduced binding of key pancreatic transcription factors (GATA4, GATA6 and FOXA2) on the edited allele, accompanied by a slight reduction of ONECUT1 transcription, supporting a causal role for this risk variant in metabolic disease. This work expands our knowledge about transcriptional regulation in pancreatic development through the characterization of a long-range enhancer and highlights the utility of enhancer discovery in disease-relevant settings for understanding monogenic and complex disease.
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2
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Razavi-Mohseni M, Huang W, Guo YA, Shigaki D, Ho SWT, Tan P, Skanderup AJ, Beer MA. Machine learning identifies activation of RUNX/AP-1 as drivers of mesenchymal and fibrotic regulatory programs in gastric cancer. Genome Res 2024; 34:680-695. [PMID: 38777607 PMCID: PMC11216402 DOI: 10.1101/gr.278565.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and is a heterogeneous disease. Among GC subtypes, the mesenchymal phenotype (Mes-like) is more invasive than the epithelial phenotype (Epi-like). Although gene expression of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been studied, the regulatory landscape shaping this process is not fully understood. Here we use ATAC-seq and RNA-seq data from a compendium of GC cell lines and primary tumors to detect drivers of regulatory state changes and their transcriptional responses. Using the ATAC-seq data, we developed a machine learning approach to determine the transcription factors (TFs) regulating the subtypes of GC. We identified TFs driving the mesenchymal (RUNX2, ZEB1, SNAI2, AP-1 dimer) and the epithelial (GATA4, GATA6, KLF5, HNF4A, FOXA2, GRHL2) states in GC. We identified DNA copy number alterations associated with dysregulation of these TFs, specifically deletion of GATA4 and amplification of MAPK9 Comparisons with bulk and single-cell RNA-seq data sets identified activation toward fibroblast-like epigenomic and expression signatures in Mes-like GC. The activation of this mesenchymal fibrotic program is associated with differentially accessible DNA cis-regulatory elements flanking upregulated mesenchymal genes. These findings establish a map of TF activity in GC and highlight the role of copy number driven alterations in shaping epigenomic regulatory programs as potential drivers of GC heterogeneity and progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milad Razavi-Mohseni
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
| | - Weitai Huang
- Laboratory of Computational Cancer Genomics, Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138672
| | - Yu A Guo
- Laboratory of Computational Cancer Genomics, Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138672
| | - Dustin Shigaki
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
| | - Shamaine Wei Ting Ho
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenetic Regulation, Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138672
| | - Patrick Tan
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenetic Regulation, Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138672
- Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore 169857
- Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117599
- Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117593
| | - Anders J Skanderup
- Laboratory of Computational Cancer Genomics, Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore 138672
| | - Michael A Beer
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA;
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Pina C. Contributions of transcriptional noise to leukaemia evolution: KAT2A as a case-study. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230052. [PMID: 38432321 PMCID: PMC10909511 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Transcriptional noise is proposed to participate in cell fate changes, but contributions to mammalian cell differentiation systems, including cancer, remain associative. Cancer evolution is driven by genetic variability, with modulatory or contributory participation of epigenetic variants. Accumulation of epigenetic variants enhances transcriptional noise, which can facilitate cancer cell fate transitions. Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is an aggressive cancer with strong epigenetic dependencies, characterized by blocked differentiation. It constitutes an attractive model to probe links between transcriptional noise and malignant cell fate regulation. Gcn5/KAT2A is a classical epigenetic transcriptional noise regulator. Its loss increases transcriptional noise and modifies cell fates in stem and AML cells. By reviewing the analysis of KAT2A-depleted pre-leukaemia and leukaemia models, I discuss that the net result of transcriptional noise is diversification of cell fates secondary to alternative transcriptional programmes. Cellular diversification can enable or hinder AML progression, respectively, by differentiation of cell types responsive to mutations, or by maladaptation of leukaemia stem cells. KAT2A-dependent noise-responsive genes participate in ribosome biogenesis and KAT2A loss destabilizes translational activity. I discuss putative contributions of perturbed translation to AML biology, and propose KAT2A loss as a model for mechanistic integration of transcriptional and translational control of noise and fate decisions. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Causes and consequences of stochastic processes in development and disease'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Pina
- College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, London, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
- CenGEM – Centre for Genome Engineering and Maintenance, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, London, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
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4
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Wang Z, Ren B. Role of H3K4 monomethylation in gene regulation. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2024; 84:102153. [PMID: 38278054 PMCID: PMC11065453 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2024.102153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Revised: 01/02/2024] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/28/2024]
Abstract
Methylation of histone H3 on the lysine-4 residue (H3K4me) is found throughout the eukaryotic domain, and its initial discovery as a conserved epigenetic mark of active transcription from yeast to mammalian cells has contributed to the histone code hypothesis. However, recent studies have raised questions on whether the different forms of H3K4me play a direct role in gene regulation or are simply by-products of the transcription process. Here, we review the often-conflicting experimental evidence, focusing on the monomethylation of lysine 4 on histone H3 that has been linked to the transcriptional state of enhancers in metazoans. We suggest that this epigenetic mark acts in a context-dependent manner to directly facilitate the transcriptional output of the genome and the establishment of cellular identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaoning Wang
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA. https://twitter.com/@ZhaoningWang
| | - Bing Ren
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA; Center for Epigenomics, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA; Institute of Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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5
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Maytum A, Edginton-White B, Keane P, Cockerill PN, Cazier JB, Bonifer C. Chromatin priming elements direct tissue-specific gene activity before hematopoietic specification. Life Sci Alliance 2024; 7:e202302363. [PMID: 37989524 PMCID: PMC10663361 DOI: 10.26508/lsa.202302363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Tissue-specific gene regulation during development involves the interplay between transcription factors and epigenetic regulators binding to enhancer and promoter elements. The pattern of active enhancers defines the cellular differentiation state. However, developmental gene activation involves a previous step called chromatin priming which is not fully understood. We recently developed a genome-wide functional assay that allowed us to functionally identify enhancer elements integrated in chromatin regulating five stages spanning the in vitro differentiation of embryonic stem cells to blood. We also measured global chromatin accessibility, histone modifications, and transcription factor binding. The integration of these data identified and characterised cis-regulatory elements which become activated before the onset of gene expression, some of which are primed in a signalling-dependent fashion. Deletion of such a priming element leads to a delay in the up-regulation of its associated gene in development. Our work uncovers the details of a complex network of regulatory interactions with the dynamics of early chromatin opening being at the heart of dynamic tissue-specific gene expression control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Maytum
- Institute for Cancer and Genomic Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Benjamin Edginton-White
- Institute for Cancer and Genomic Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Peter Keane
- Institute for Cancer and Genomic Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Peter N Cockerill
- Institute for Cancer and Genomic Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Jean-Baptiste Cazier
- Institute for Cancer and Genomic Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Constanze Bonifer
- Institute for Cancer and Genomic Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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6
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Murphy D, Salataj E, Di Giammartino DC, Rodriguez-Hernaez J, Kloetgen A, Garg V, Char E, Uyehara CM, Ee LS, Lee U, Stadtfeld M, Hadjantonakis AK, Tsirigos A, Polyzos A, Apostolou E. 3D Enhancer-promoter networks provide predictive features for gene expression and coregulation in early embryonic lineages. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2024; 31:125-140. [PMID: 38053013 PMCID: PMC10897904 DOI: 10.1038/s41594-023-01130-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
Mammalian embryogenesis commences with two pivotal and binary cell fate decisions that give rise to three essential lineages: the trophectoderm, the epiblast and the primitive endoderm. Although key signaling pathways and transcription factors that control these early embryonic decisions have been identified, the non-coding regulatory elements through which transcriptional regulators enact these fates remain understudied. Here, we characterize, at a genome-wide scale, enhancer activity and 3D connectivity in embryo-derived stem cell lines that represent each of the early developmental fates. We observe extensive enhancer remodeling and fine-scale 3D chromatin rewiring among the three lineages, which strongly associate with transcriptional changes, although distinct groups of genes are irresponsive to topological changes. In each lineage, a high degree of connectivity, or 'hubness', positively correlates with levels of gene expression and enriches for cell-type specific and essential genes. Genes within 3D hubs also show a significantly stronger probability of coregulation across lineages compared to genes in linear proximity or within the same contact domains. By incorporating 3D chromatin features, we build a predictive model for transcriptional regulation (3D-HiChAT) that outperforms models using only 1D promoter or proximal variables to predict levels and cell-type specificity of gene expression. Using 3D-HiChAT, we identify, in silico, candidate functional enhancers and hubs in each cell lineage, and with CRISPRi experiments, we validate several enhancers that control gene expression in their respective lineages. Our study identifies 3D regulatory hubs associated with the earliest mammalian lineages and describes their relationship to gene expression and cell identity, providing a framework to comprehensively understand lineage-specific transcriptional behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dylan Murphy
- Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Eralda Salataj
- Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Dafne Campigli Di Giammartino
- Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- 3D Chromatin Conformation and RNA Genomics Laboratory, Center for Human Technologies (CHT), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genova, Italy
| | - Javier Rodriguez-Hernaez
- Department of Pathology, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Medicine, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA
- Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA
| | - Andreas Kloetgen
- Department of Pathology, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Medicine, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA
- Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA
| | - Vidur Garg
- Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
- Biochemistry Cell and Molecular Biology Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Erin Char
- Tri-Institutional Training Program in Computational Biology and Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA
| | - Christopher M Uyehara
- Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ly-Sha Ee
- Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - UkJin Lee
- Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- Biochemistry Cell and Molecular Biology Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Matthias Stadtfeld
- Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis
- Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Aristotelis Tsirigos
- Department of Pathology, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Medicine, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
- Applied Bioinformatics Laboratory, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Alexander Polyzos
- Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Effie Apostolou
- Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
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7
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Pulver C, Grun D, Duc J, Sheppard S, Planet E, Coudray A, de Fondeville R, Pontis J, Trono D. Statistical learning quantifies transposable element-mediated cis-regulation. Genome Biol 2023; 24:258. [PMID: 37950299 PMCID: PMC10637000 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-023-03085-7] [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: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Transposable elements (TEs) have colonized the genomes of most metazoans, and many TE-embedded sequences function as cis-regulatory elements (CREs) for genes involved in a wide range of biological processes from early embryogenesis to innate immune responses. Because of their repetitive nature, TEs have the potential to form CRE platforms enabling the coordinated and genome-wide regulation of protein-coding genes by only a handful of trans-acting transcription factors (TFs). RESULTS Here, we directly test this hypothesis through mathematical modeling and demonstrate that differences in expression at protein-coding genes alone are sufficient to estimate the magnitude and significance of TE-contributed cis-regulatory activities, even in contexts where TE-derived transcription fails to do so. We leverage hundreds of overexpression experiments and estimate that, overall, gene expression is influenced by TE-embedded CREs situated within approximately 500 kb of promoters. Focusing on the cis-regulatory potential of TEs within the gene regulatory network of human embryonic stem cells, we find that pluripotency-specific and evolutionarily young TE subfamilies can be reactivated by TFs involved in post-implantation embryogenesis. Finally, we show that TE subfamilies can be split into truly regulatorily active versus inactive fractions based on additional information such as matched epigenomic data, observing that TF binding may better predict TE cis-regulatory activity than differences in histone marks. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that TE-embedded CREs contribute to gene regulation during and beyond gastrulation. On a methodological level, we provide a statistical tool that infers TE-dependent cis-regulation from RNA-seq data alone, thus facilitating the study of TEs in the next-generation sequencing era.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cyril Pulver
- School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Delphine Grun
- School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Julien Duc
- School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Shaoline Sheppard
- School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Evarist Planet
- School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Alexandre Coudray
- School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Raphaël de Fondeville
- Swiss Data Science Center, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Julien Pontis
- School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- SOPHiA GENETICS SA, La Pièce 12, CH-1180, Rolle, Switzerland.
| | - Didier Trono
- School of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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