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Integration of ATAC-seq and RNA-seq identifies human alpha cell and beta cell signature genes.


ABSTRACT: Although glucagon-secreting ?-cells and insulin-secreting ?-cells have opposing functions in regulating plasma glucose levels, the two cell types share a common developmental origin and exhibit overlapping transcriptomes and epigenomes. Notably, destruction of ?-cells can stimulate repopulation via transdifferentiation of ?-cells, at least in mice, suggesting plasticity between these cell fates. Furthermore, dysfunction of both ?- and ?-cells contributes to the pathophysiology of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and ?-cell de-differentiation has been proposed to contribute to type 2 diabetes. Our objective was to delineate the molecular properties that maintain islet cell type specification yet allow for cellular plasticity. We hypothesized that correlating cell type-specific transcriptomes with an atlas of open chromatin will identify novel genes and transcriptional regulatory elements such as enhancers involved in ?- and ?-cell specification and plasticity.We sorted human ?- and ?-cells and performed the "Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high throughput sequencing" (ATAC-seq) and mRNA-seq, followed by integrative analysis to identify cell type-selective gene regulatory regions.We identified numerous transcripts with either ?-cell- or ?-cell-selective expression and discovered the cell type-selective open chromatin regions that correlate with these gene activation patterns. We confirmed cell type-selective expression on the protein level for two of the top hits from our screen. The "group specific protein" (GC; or vitamin D binding protein) was restricted to ?-cells, while CHODL (chondrolectin) immunoreactivity was only present in ?-cells. Furthermore, ?-cell- and ?-cell-selective ATAC-seq peaks were identified to overlap with known binding sites for islet transcription factors, as well as with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously identified as risk loci for type 2 diabetes.We have determined the genetic landscape of human ?- and ?-cells based on chromatin accessibility and transcript levels, which allowed for detection of novel ?- and ?-cell signature genes not previously known to be expressed in islets. Using fine-mapping of open chromatin, we have identified thousands of potential cis-regulatory elements that operate in an endocrine cell type-specific fashion.

SUBMITTER: Ackermann AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4770267 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Integration of ATAC-seq and RNA-seq identifies human alpha cell and beta cell signature genes.

Ackermann Amanda M AM   Wang Zhiping Z   Schug Jonathan J   Naji Ali A   Kaestner Klaus H KH  

Molecular metabolism 20160111 3


<h4>Objective</h4>Although glucagon-secreting α-cells and insulin-secreting β-cells have opposing functions in regulating plasma glucose levels, the two cell types share a common developmental origin and exhibit overlapping transcriptomes and epigenomes. Notably, destruction of β-cells can stimulate repopulation via transdifferentiation of α-cells, at least in mice, suggesting plasticity between these cell fates. Furthermore, dysfunction of both α- and β-cells contributes to the pathophysiology  ...[more]

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