Polarized regulatory landscape and Wnt responsiveness underlie Hox activation in embryos
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE81203 | GEO | 2016/09/16
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA320877
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Precise Hox gene expression is crucial for embryonic patterning. Local transcription factor binding and distal enhancer elements have emerged as the major regulatory modes controlling the initiation and maintenance of Hox gene expression. However, quantifying their relative contributions has remained elusive. Here, we introduce ‘synthetic regulatory reconstitution’, a novel conceptual framework for studying gene regulation and apply it to the mammalian HoxA cluster. To measure the HoxA intrinsic regulatory potential and distal enhancer contributions, we de novo synthesized and delivered variant rat HoxA clusters (130-170 kilobases each) to an ectopic location in the mouse genome. We find that a minimal HoxA cluster lacking distal enhancers induces the appropriate gene set and establishes distinct chromatin domains in response to patterning signals, while distal enhancers are required for full transcriptional output. These results suggest that the genomically compact Hox clusters contain all the information to decode patterning signals and maintain positional information
2021-12-16 | GSE190896 | GEO
Project description:Precise Hox gene expression is crucial for embryonic patterning. Local transcription factor binding and distal enhancer elements have emerged as the major regulatory modes controlling the initiation and maintenance of Hox gene expression. However, quantifying their relative contributions has remained elusive. Here, we introduce ‘synthetic regulatory reconstitution’, a novel conceptual framework for studying gene regulation and apply it to the mammalian HoxA cluster. To measure the HoxA intrinsic regulatory potential and distal enhancer contributions, we de novo synthesized and delivered variant rat HoxA clusters (130-170 kilobases each) to an ectopic location in the mouse genome. We find that a minimal HoxA cluster lacking distal enhancers induces the appropriate gene set and establishes distinct chromatin domains in response to patterning signals, while distal enhancers are required for full transcriptional output. These results suggest that the genomically compact Hox clusters contain all the information to decode patterning signals and maintain positional information
2021-12-16 | GSE190894 | GEO
Project description:Precise Hox gene expression is crucial for embryonic patterning. Local transcription factor binding and distal enhancer elements have emerged as the major regulatory modes controlling the initiation and maintenance of Hox gene expression. However, quantifying their relative contributions has remained elusive. Here, we introduce ‘synthetic regulatory reconstitution’, a novel conceptual framework for studying gene regulation and apply it to the mammalian HoxA cluster. To measure the HoxA intrinsic regulatory potential and distal enhancer contributions, we de novo synthesized and delivered variant rat HoxA clusters (130-170 kilobases each) to an ectopic location in the mouse genome. We find that a minimal HoxA cluster lacking distal enhancers induces the appropriate gene set and establishes distinct chromatin domains in response to patterning signals, while distal enhancers are required for full transcriptional output. These results suggest that the genomically compact Hox clusters contain all the information to decode patterning signals and maintain positional information
2021-12-16 | GSE190893 | GEO
Project description:Precise Hox gene expression is crucial for embryonic patterning. Local transcription factor binding and distal enhancer elements have emerged as the major regulatory modes controlling the initiation and maintenance of Hox gene expression. However, quantifying their relative contributions has remained elusive. Here, we introduce ‘synthetic regulatory reconstitution’, a novel conceptual framework for studying gene regulation and apply it to the mammalian HoxA cluster. To measure the HoxA intrinsic regulatory potential and distal enhancer contributions, we de novo synthesized and delivered variant rat HoxA clusters (130-170 kilobases each) to an ectopic location in the mouse genome. We find that a minimal HoxA cluster lacking distal enhancers induces the appropriate gene set and establishes distinct chromatin domains in response to patterning signals, while distal enhancers are required for full transcriptional output. These results suggest that the genomically compact Hox clusters contain all the information to decode patterning signals and maintain positional information
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Project description:The homeotic (Hox) genes are highly conserved in metazoans, where they are required for various processes in development and misregulation of their expression is associated with human cancer. In the developing embryo, Hox genes are sequentially activated in time and space according to their genomic position within Hox gene clusters. Accumulating evidence implicates both enhancer elements and non-coding RNAs in controlling this spatiotemporal expression of Hox genes, but disentangling their relative contributions is challenging. Here, we identify two cis-regulatory elements (E1 and E2) functioning as shadow enhancers to regulate the early expression of the HoxA genes. Simultaneous deletion of these shadow enhancers in embryonic stem cells leads to impaired activation of HoxA genes upon differentiation, while knockdown of a long non-coding RNA overlapping E1 has no detectable effect on their expression. Although MLL/COMPASS family of histone methyltransferases are known to activate transcription of Hox genes in other contexts, we find that individual inactivation of the MLL1-4/COMPASS family members has little effect on early Hox gene activation. Instead, we demonstrate that SET1A/COMPASS is required for full transcriptional activation of multiple Hox genes, but functions independently of the E1 and E2 cis-regulatory elements. Our results reveal multiple regulatory layers for Hox genes to fine-tune transcriptional programs essential for development.
2017-05-09 | GSE98140 | GEO
Project description:Proper Homeobox A (HoxA) cluster genes expression is essential for embryonic stem cells (ESCs) differentiation and individual development. However, the mechanisms controlling the precise spatiotemporal expression of HoxA cluster genes during early ESCs differentiation remain largely unknown. Here, we find a CTCF binding element (CBE+47kb) closest to the 3'-end of HoxA locus within a topologically associated domains (TAD) in ESCs. CRISPR-Cas9 mediated the CBE+47kb knockout significantly promotes expression of HoxA cluster genes and early ESCs differentiation induced by RA compared with wild type cells. In mechanism, we found that there was a significant differently long-range chromatin interactions between its adjacent enhancers and HoxA in CBE+47kb knockout cells through chromosome conformation capture assay (Capture-C), indicating that CBE+47kb can precisely organize interactions between its adjacent enhancers and HoxA chromatins. Furthermore, we also showed that its adjacent enhancers deletion shows significantly synthetic inhibition effect on HoxA genes expression, suggesting that these enhancers are required for RA-induced HoxA genes expression. Our study reveals that a new functional CBE+47 can regulate HoxA genes expression through orchestrating long-range chromatin interactions between its adjacent enhancers and HoxA, thus maintaining RA-induced early ESCs proper differentiation.
2020-07-16 | GSE154495 | GEO
Project description:HoxA genes exhibit central roles during development and causal mutations have been found in several human syndromes including limb malformation. Despite their importance, information on how these genes are regulated is lacking. Here, we report on the first identification of bona fide transcriptional enhancers controlling HoxA genes in developing limbs and show that these enhancers are grouped into distinct topological domains at the sub-megabase scale (sub-TADs). We provide evidence that target genes and regulatory elements physically interact with each other through contacts between sub-TADs rather than by the formation of discreet "DNA loops". Interestingly, there is no obvious relationship between the functional domains of the enhancers within the limb and how they are partitioned among the topological domains, suggesting that sub-TAD formation does not rely on enhancer activity. Moreover, we show that suppressing the transcriptional activity of enhancers does not abrogate their contacts with HoxA genes. Based on these data, we propose a model whereby chromatin architecture defines the functional landscapes of enhancers. From an evolutionary standpoint, our data points to the convergent evolution of HoxA and HoxD regulation in the fin-to-limb transition, one of the major morphological innovations in Vertebrates. The chromatin binding of the RNA polymerase II and the sub-unit Med12 of the Mediator complexe were analysed by ChIP-sequencing mouse distal E11.5 forelimb. This approach allowed us to identify the position of limb-specific enhancers.
2013-11-19 | E-GEOD-52483 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Hoxa5 plays numerous roles in development, but its downstream molecular effects are mostly unknown. We applied bulk RNA_seq assays to characterize the transcriptional impact of the loss of Hoxa5 gene function in seven different biological contexts, including developing respiratory and musculoskeletal tissues that present phenotypes in Hoxa5 mouse mutants. This global analysis revealed few shared transcriptional changes, suggesting that HOXA5 acts mainly via the regulation of context_specific effectors. However, Hox genes themselves appeared as potentially conserved targets of HOXA5 across tissues. Notably, a trend toward reduced expression of HoxA genes was observed in Hoxa5 null mutants in several tissue contexts. Comparative analysis of epigenetic marks along the HoxA cluster in lung tissue from two different Hoxa5 mutant mouse lines revealed limited effect of either mutation indicating that Hoxa5 gene targeting did not significantly perturb the chromatin landscape of the surrounding HoxA cluster. Combined with the shared impact of the two Hoxa5 mutant alleles on phenotypes and Hox expression, these data argue against the contribution of local cis effects to Hoxa5 mutant phenotypes and support the notion that the HOXA5 protein acts in trans in the control of Hox gene expression.
2024-12-06 | GSE269950 | GEO
Project description:Preventing inappropriate gene expression in time and space is as fundamental as triggering the activation of tissue/cell-type specific factors at the correct developmental stage and in the correct cells. Here, we study the impact of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) function on HoxA gene regulation. We analyze chromatin conformation of the HoxA cluster and its regulatory regions and show that in addition to the well-known role of PRC2 in silencing Hox genes via direct binding, its function is required for the changes in HoxA long-range interactions distinguishing proximal limb from distal limb. This effect stems from the differential PRC2 occupancy over the HoxA cluster and, at least in part, from the ability of PRC2-bound loci to engage in long-range contacts. Unexpectedly, PRC2 also impacts chromatin conformation in a way that promotes enhancer-promoter contacts required for proper HoxA expression, pointing to a dual role of PRC2 in gene regulation.
2019-06-10 | GSE123630 | GEO
Project description:HoxA genes exhibit central roles during development and causal mutations have been found in several human syndromes including limb malformation. Despite their importance, information on how these genes are regulated is lacking. Here, we report on the first identification of bona fide transcriptional enhancers controlling HoxA genes in developing limbs and show that these enhancers are grouped into distinct topological domains at the sub-megabase scale (sub-TADs). We provide evidence that target genes and regulatory elements physically interact with each other through contacts between sub-TADs rather than by the formation of discreet "DNA loops". Interestingly, there is no obvious relationship between the functional domains of the enhancers within the limb and how they are partitioned among the topological domains, suggesting that sub-TAD formation does not rely on enhancer activity. Moreover, we show that suppressing the transcriptional activity of enhancers does not abrogate their contacts with HoxA genes. Based on these data, we propose a model whereby chromatin architecture defines the functional landscapes of enhancers. From an evolutionary standpoint, our data points to the convergent evolution of HoxA and HoxD regulation in the fin-to-limb transition, one of the major morphological innovations in Vertebrates.
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