scholarly journals diffloop: a computational framework for identifying and analyzing differential DNA loops from sequencing data

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb A. Lareau ◽  
Martin J. Aryee
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Dna Looping ◽  
Statistical Testing ◽  
Bioconductor Package ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Dna Loops ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
Epigenetic State

ABSTRACTThe three-dimensional architecture of DNA within the nucleus is a key determinant of interactions between genes, regulatory elements, and transcriptional machinery. As a result, differences in loop structure are associated with differences in gene expression and cell state. Here, we introduce diffloop, an R/Bioconductor package for identifying differential DNA looping between samples. The package additionally provides a suite of functions for the quality control, statistical testing, annotation and visualization of DNA loops. We demonstrate this functionality by detecting differences in DNA loops between ENCODE ChIA-PET datasets and relate looping to differences in epigenetic state and gene expression.

scholarly journals Cell-Selective Regulation of CFTR Gene Expression: Relevance to Gene Editing Therapeutics

Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Swahn ◽  
Ann Harris
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Cystic Fibrosis ◽  
Gene Editing ◽  
Genetic Diseases ◽  
3D Structure ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Cftr Gene ◽  
Specific Expression

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene is an attractive target for gene editing approaches, which may yield novel therapeutic approaches for genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis (CF). However, for gene editing to be effective, aspects of the three-dimensional (3D) structure and cis-regulatory elements governing the dynamic expression of CFTR need to be considered. In this review, we focus on the higher order chromatin organization required for normal CFTR locus function, together with the complex mechanisms controlling expression of the gene in different cell types impaired by CF pathology. Across all cells, the CFTR locus is organized into an invariant topologically associated domain (TAD) established by the architectural proteins CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) and cohesin complex. Additional insulator elements within the TAD also recruit these factors. Although the CFTR promoter is required for basal levels of expression, cis-regulatory elements (CREs) in intergenic and intronic regions are crucial for cell-specific and temporal coordination of CFTR transcription. These CREs are recruited to the promoter through chromatin looping mechanisms and enhance cell-type-specific expression. These features of the CFTR locus should be considered when designing gene-editing approaches, since failure to recognize their importance may disrupt gene expression and reduce the efficacy of therapies.

scholarly journals A cohesin cancer mutation reveals a role for the hinge domain in genome organization and gene expression

PLoS Genetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. e1009435
Author(s):  
Zachary M. Carico ◽  
Holden C. Stefan ◽  
Megan Justice ◽  
Askar Yimit ◽  
Jill M. Dowen
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Embryonic Stem ◽  
Cohesin Complex ◽  
Dna Loops ◽  
Dna Mutation ◽  
Close Physical Proximity ◽  
Pluripotency Gene ◽  
Hinge Domain

The cohesin complex spatially organizes interphase chromatin by bringing distal genomic loci into close physical proximity, looping out the intervening DNA. Mutation of cohesin complex subunits is observed in cancer and developmental disorders, but the mechanisms through which these mutations may contribute to disease remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate a recurrent missense mutation to the hinge domain of the cohesin subunit SMC1A, observed in acute myeloid leukemia. Engineering this mutation into murine embryonic stem cells caused widespread changes in gene expression, including dysregulation of the pluripotency gene expression program. This mutation reduced cohesin levels at promoters and enhancers, decreased DNA loops and interactions across short genomic distances, and weakened insulation at CTCF-mediated DNA loops. These findings provide insight into how altered cohesin function contributes to disease and identify a requirement for the cohesin hinge domain in three-dimensional chromatin structure.

scholarly journals Chromosome-wide co-fluctuation of stochastic gene expression in mammalian cells

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengyi Sun ◽  
Jianzhi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Chromatin Dynamics ◽  
Gene Expression Noise ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
The Face ◽  
Allele Specific ◽  
Genomic Scale

ABSTRACTGene expression is subject to stochastic noise, but to what extent and by which means such stochastic variations are coordinated among different genes are unclear. We hypothesize that neighboring genes on the same chromosome co-fluctuate in expression because of their common chromatin dynamics, and verify it at the genomic scale using allele-specific single-cell RNA-sequencing data of mouse cells. Unexpectedly, the co-fluctuation extends to genes that are over 60 million bases apart. We provide evidence that this long-range effect arises in part from chromatin co-accessibilities of linked loci attributable to three-dimensional proximity, which is much closer intra-chromosomally than inter-chromosomally. We further show that genes encoding components of the same protein complex tend to be chromosomally linked, likely resulting from natural selection for intracellular among-component dosage balance. These findings have implications for both the evolution of genome organization and optimal design of synthetic genomes in the face of gene expression noise.

scholarly journals Chromatin three-dimensional interactions mediate genetic effects on gene expression

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 364 (6439) ◽  
pp. eaat8266 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Delaneau ◽  
M. Zazhytska ◽  
C. Borel ◽  
G. Giannuzzi ◽  
G. Rey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Genetic Effects ◽  
Chromatin Organization ◽  
Regulatory Domains ◽  
Regulatory Variants ◽  
Cis And Trans

Studying the genetic basis of gene expression and chromatin organization is key to characterizing the effect of genetic variability on the function and structure of the human genome. Here we unravel how genetic variation perturbs gene regulation using a dataset combining activity of regulatory elements, gene expression, and genetic variants across 317 individuals and two cell types. We show that variability in regulatory activity is structured at the intra- and interchromosomal levels within 12,583 cis-regulatory domains and 30 trans-regulatory hubs that highly reflect the local (that is, topologically associating domains) and global (that is, open and closed chromatin compartments) nuclear chromatin organization. These structures delimit cell type–specific regulatory networks that control gene expression and coexpression and mediate the genetic effects of cis- and trans-acting regulatory variants on genes.

scholarly journals DIPG-70. DISORDERED DNA METHYLATION IN DIPG UNDERLIES PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii300-iii300
Author(s):  
Michael Koldobskiy ◽  
Ashley Tetens ◽  
Allison Martin ◽  
Charles Eberhart ◽  
Eric Raabe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Tumor Evolution ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Dna Hypomethylation ◽  
Epigenetic Variability ◽  
Dismal Prognosis

Abstract Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a childhood brainstem tumor with a dismal prognosis and no effective treatment. Recent studies point to a critical role for epigenetic dysregulation in this disease. Nearly 80% of DIPGs harbor mutations in histone H3 encoding replacement of lysine 27 with methionine (K27M), leading to global loss of the repressive histone H3K27 trimethylation mark, global DNA hypomethylation, and a distinct gene expression profile. However, a static view of the epigenome fails to capture the plasticity of cancer cells and their gene expression states. Recent studies across diverse cancers have highlighted the role of epigenetic variability as a driving force in tumor evolution. Epigenetic variability may underlie the heterogeneity and phenotypic plasticity of DIPG cells and allow for the selection of cellular traits that promote survival and resistance to therapy. We have recently formalized a novel framework for analyzing variability of DNA methylation directly from whole-genome bisulfite sequencing data, allowing computation of DNA methylation entropy at precise genomic locations. Using these methods, we have shown that DIPG exhibits a markedly disordered epigenome, with increased stochasticity of DNA methylation localizing to specific regulatory elements and genes. We evaluate the responsiveness of the DIPG epigenetic landscape to pharmacologic modulation in order to modify proliferation, differentiation state, and immune signaling in DIPG cells.

scholarly journals Three-Dimensional Genome Organization in Breast and Gynecological Cancers: How Chromatin Folding Influences Tumorigenic Transcriptional Programs

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Stephanie I. Nuñez-Olvera ◽  
Jonathan Puente-Rivera ◽  
Rosalio Ramos-Payán ◽  
Carlos Pérez-Plasencia ◽  
Yarely M. Salinas-Vera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Protein Function ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Gene Mutations ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Gene Promoters ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Non Coding Rnas ◽  
Insulator Elements

A growing body of research on the transcriptome and cancer genome has demonstrated that many gynecological tumor-specific gene mutations are located in cis-regulatory elements. Through chromosomal looping, cis-regulatory elements interact which each other to control gene expression by bringing distant regulatory elements, such as enhancers and insulators, into close proximity with promoters. It is well known that chromatin connections may be disrupted in cancer cells, promoting transcriptional dysregulation and the expression of abnormal tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. In this review, we examine the roles of alterations in 3D chromatin interactions. This includes changes in CTCF protein function, cancer-risk single nucleotide polymorphisms, viral integration, and hormonal response as part of the mechanisms that lead to the acquisition of enhancers or super-enhancers. The translocation of existing enhancers, as well as enhancer loss or acquisition of insulator elements that interact with gene promoters, is also revised. Remarkably, similar processes that modify 3D chromatin contacts in gene promoters may also influence the expression of non-coding RNAs, such as long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs), which have emerged as key regulators of gene expression in a variety of cancers, including gynecological malignancies.

scholarly journals Structural variants are a major source of gene expression differences in humans and often affect multiple nearby genes

2021 ◽  
pp. gr.275488.121
Author(s):  
Alexandra J Scott ◽  
Colby Chiang ◽  
Ira M Hall
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Mobile Element ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Tissue Analysis ◽  
Genome Diversity ◽  
Structural Variants ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Regional Effects ◽  
Fold Enrichment ◽  
Rare Gene

Structural variants (SVs) are an important source of human genome diversity but their functional effects are not well understood. We mapped 61,668 SVs in 613 individuals with deep genome sequencing data from the GTEx project and measured their effects on gene expression. We estimate that common SVs are causal at 2.66% of eQTLs, which is a 10.5-fold enrichment relative to their abundance in the genome and consistent with prior work using smaller sample sizes. Duplications and deletions were the most impactful variant types, whereas the contribution of mobile element insertions was small (0.12% of eQTLs, 1.9-fold enriched). Multi-tissue analysis of expression effects revealed that gene-altering SVs show significantly more constitutive effects than other variant types, with 62.09% of coding SV-eQTLs active in all tissues with known eQTL activity compared to 23.08% of coding SNV- and indel-eQTLs, while noncoding SVs, SNVs and indels show broadly similar patterns. We also identified 539 rare SVs associated with nearby gene expression outliers. Of these, 62.34% are noncoding SVs that show strong effects on gene expression yet modest enrichment at known regulatory elements, demonstrating that rare noncoding SVs are a major source of gene expression differences but remain difficult to predict from current annotations. Both common and rare noncoding SVs often show strong regional effects on the expression of multiple genes: SV-eQTLs affect an average of 1.82 nearby genes compared to 1.09 genes affected by SNV- and indel-eQTLs, and 21.34% of rare expression-altering SVs show strong effects on 2-9 different genes. We also observe significant effects on rare gene expression changes extending 1 Mb from the SV. This provides a mechanism by which individual noncoding SVs may have strong or pleiotropic effects on phenotypic variation and disease.

scholarly journals Characterization of intermediate-sized insertions using whole genome sequencing data and analysis of their functional impacts on gene expression

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeideh Ashouri ◽  
Jing Hao Wong ◽  
Hidewaki Nakagawa ◽  
Mihoko Shimada ◽  
Katsushi Tokunaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Whole Genome Sequencing ◽  
Genome Sequencing ◽  
Gene Expression Regulation ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Expression Regulation ◽  
Ctcf Binding ◽  
Whole Genome Sequencing Data ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Sequencing Data

Abstract Intermediate-sized insertions are one of the structural variants contributing to genome diversity. However, due to technical difficulties in identifying them, their importance in disease pathogenicity and gene expression regulation remains unclear. We used whole-genome sequencing data of 174 Japanese samples to characterize intermediate-sized insertions using a highly-accurate insertion calling method (IMSindel software and joint-call recovery) and obtained a catalogue of 4,254 insertions. We constructed an imputation panel comprising of insertions and SNVs from all samples, and conducted imputation of intermediate-sized insertions for 82 publicly-available Japanese samples. Imputation accuracy, evaluated using Nanopore long-read sequencing data, was 97%. Subsequent eQTL analysis predicted 128 (~ 3.0%) insertions as causative for gene expression level changes. Enrichment analysis of causal insertions for genome regulatory elements showed significant associations with CTCF-binding sites, super-enhancers, and promoters. Among 17 causal insertions found in the same causal set with GWAS hits, there were insertions associated with changes in expression of cancer-related genes such as BRCA1, ZNF222, and ABCB10. Analysis of insertions sequences revealed that 461 insertions were short tandem duplications frequently found in early replicating regions of genome. Furthermore, comparison of functional importance of intermediate-sized insertions with that of intermediate-sized deletions detected in the same sample set in our previous study showed that insertions were more frequent in genic regions, and proportion of functional candidates was smaller in insertions. Here, we characterize a high-confidence set of intermediate-sized insertions and indicate their importance in gene expression regulation. Our results emphasize the importance of considering intermediate-sized insertions in trait association studies.

scholarly journals The presence of copy number variants in specific topologically associating domains has prognostic value in many cancer types

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lifei Li ◽  
Nicolai K. H. Barth ◽  
Christian Pilarsky ◽  
Leila Taher
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Prognostic Value ◽  
Gene Expression Regulation ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Cancer Genes ◽  
Cox Regression Analysis ◽  
Topologically Associating Domains ◽  
Cancer Types

AbstractThe human genome is organized into topologically associating domains (TADs), which represent contiguous regions with a higher frequency of intra-interactions as opposed to inter-interactions. TADs contribute to gene expression regulation by restricting interactions between regulatory elements, and their disruption by genomic rearrangements can result in altered gene expression and, ultimately, in cancer. Here, we provide a proof-of-principle that mutations within TADs can be used to predict the survival of cancer patients. For this purpose, we first constructed a set of 1,467 TADs representing the three-dimensional organization of genome across 24 normal human tissues. We then used Cox regression analysis to assess the prognostic value of the TADs in different cancer types, and identified a total of 35 TADs that were prognostic for at least one of nine cancer types. Interestingly, only 46% of the prognostic TADs comprised one or more genes with a known causal association with cancer. Moreover, for those TADs encompassing such a gene, the prognostic effect of the TAD was only directed related to the presence/absence of mutations in the gene in 13% of the cases. These observations indicate that the predictive power of a large proportion of the prognostic TADs is independent of whether pan-cancer genes are mutated or not. Furthermore, 34% of the 35 prognostic TADs showed strong structural perturbations in the cancer genome, which might mediate cancer development and progression. This study has important implications for the interpretation of cancer-related non-coding mutations and offer insights to new strategies for personalizing cancer medicine.

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