Project description:MYB is a pivotal oncogenic driver in leukemia and is overexpressed through various mechanisms. Transcriptional regulation of MYB is complex with an alternative MYB promoter (TSS2) located in intron 1. Here, we identified two bidirectional enhancer RNAs transcribed from the -34 kb enhancer of MYB. These two eRNAs both upregulate MYB transcription, and promote proliferation and migration in leukemia cells. To further elucidate how eRNAs regulate MYB expression, we analyzed MYB differential exon usage in RNASeq data with the DEXSeq package after overexpression of eRNAs in K562 cells. We found that bidirectional enhancer RNAs regulate different MYB promoters. Transcription initiating from TSS2 produces N-terminally truncated MYB protein lacking the first 20 amino acids. To analyze the genes and pathways affected by both MYB isoforms, RNA-seq was performed after MYB or N-terminally truncated MYB was overexpressed in K562 cells. We found that N-terminally truncated MYB exhibits different activity in K562 cells, where it not only activates different primary targets, but also different downstream pathways altogether.
Project description:Despite absent expression in normal hematopoiesis, the Forkhead factor FOXC1, a critical mesenchymal differentiation regulator, is highly expressed in ~30% of HOXAhigh AML to confer blocked monocyte/macrophage differentiation. Through integrated proteomics and bioinformatics, we discovered that FOXC1 and RUNX1 interact through Forkhead and Runt domains respectively and cooccupy primed and active enhancers distributed close to differentiation genes. FOXC1 stabilises association of RUNX1, HDAC1 and Groucho repressor TLE3 to limit enhancer activity: FOXC1 knockdown induced loss of repressor proteins, gain of CEBPA binding, enhancer acetylation and upregulation of nearby genes, including KLF2. Furthermore, it triggered genome-wide redistribution of RUNX1, TLE3 and HDAC1 from enhancers to promoters leading to repression of self-renewal genes including MYC and MYB. Our studies highlight RUNX1 and CEBPA transcription factor swapping as a feature of leukemia cell differentiation, and reveal that FOXC1 prevents this by stabilising enhancer binding of a RUNX1/HDAC1/TLE3 transcription repressor complex, to oncogenic effect.
Project description:The transcription factor c-Myb a key regulator in proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells, is precisely regulated during essential cellular processes. Overexpression and rearrangement of c-myb has been reported in human tumors including myeloid leukemia, but exact regulatory mechanisms have remained elusive. Here, we identified, using 4C assay with the c-myb promoter as an anchor, the interaction site at -34k region upstream of c-myb gene that are involved in c-myb expression. Furthermore, we found that the long-range interactions changed with c-myb being down-regulated on differentiation progress in human myeloid leukemia cell lines. Taken together, our date revealed that a potential c-myb enhancer-promoter interactions may be a particularly important regulatory mechanism for c-myb gene expression in human myeloid leukemia cells.
Project description:Recent studies have revealed a myriad of non-coding transcripts in different organisms. For instances, the presence of short bidirectional transcripts is a hallmark of active promoters in mammals, while upstream non-coding transcripts can be detected at most expressed genes in conditions where the RNA degradation machinery is inhibited. Here, we used RNA-seq with very high sequencing depth to characterize strand specific transcripts from primary mouse tissues. We found that a substantial fraction of gene promoters sustain expression of long non-coding antisense transcripts. These transcripts have an average size of 6 kb, have features of mature transcripts, but remain associated with the chromatin. We named this new class of non-coding RNAs Long Upstream Antisense Transcripts (LUAT). Strikingly, the LUAT and coding gene pairs are usually co-regulated, with the associated genes often/generally coding for transcriptional regulators functioning during development and cell differentiation. Indeed, these bidirectional promoters share several characteristic of developmental gene promoters, including large CpG islands and high degree of conservation, and display symetrical GC skews. Finally, we found that bidirectional promoters have enlarged platforms of Pol II initiation, associated with an intensified rate of early transcriptional elongation. We concluded that promoters of developmental regulators are characterized by a specialized mechanism of Pol II transcription, whereby Pol II poising is directly coupled to relaxed bidirectional transcription. H3K79me2 ChIP in CD4+,CD8+ double positive thymocytes from C57BL/6 mice was studied, using Illumina sequencer
Project description:Recent studies have revealed a myriad of non-coding transcripts in different organisms. For instances, the presence of short bidirectional transcripts is a hallmark of active promoters in mammals, while upstream non-coding transcripts can be detected at most expressed genes in conditions where the RNA degradation machinery is inhibited. Here, we used RNA-seq with very high sequencing depth to characterize strand-specific transcripts from primary mouse tissues. We found that a substantial fraction of gene promoters sustain expression of long non-coding antisense transcripts. These transcripts have an average size of 6 kb, have features of mature transcripts, but remain associated with the chromatin. We named this new class of non-coding RNAs Long Upstream Antisense Transcripts (LUAT). Strikingly, the LUAT and coding gene pairs are usually co-regulated, with the associated genes often/generally coding for transcriptional regulators functioning during development and cell differentiation. Indeed, these bidirectional promoters share several characteristics of developmental gene promoters, including large CpG islands and high degree of conservation, and display symetrical GC skews. Finally, we found that bidirectional promoters have enlarged platforms of Pol II initiation, associated with an intensified rate of early transcriptional elongation. We concluded that promoters of developmental regulators are characterized by a specialized mechanism of Pol II transcription, whereby Pol II poising is directly coupled to relaxed bidirectional transcription. Runx1 ChIP-seq in CD4+,CD8+ double-positive (DP) mice thymocytes using single-end sequencing on AB SOLiD Systems.
Project description:YAP/TAZ, downstream effectors of the Hippo pathway, are important regulators of proliferation. Here we show that the ability of YAP to activate mitotic gene expression is dependent on the Myb-MuvB (MMB) complex, a master regulator of genes expressed in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. By carrying out genome-wide expression and binding analyses, we found that YAP promotes binding of the MMB subunit B-MYB to the promoters of mitotic target genes. YAP binds to B-MYB and stimulates B-MYB chromatin-association through distal enhancer elements that interact with MMB-regulated promoters through chromatin looping. The cooperation between YAP and B-MYB is critical for YAP-mediated entry into mitosis. Furthermore, the expression of genes co-activated by YAP and B-MYB is associated with poor survival of cancer patients. Together, our findings provide a molecular mechanism by which YAP and MMB regulate mitotic gene expression and suggest a link between two cancer-relevant signaling pathways.
Project description:In many cancers, critical oncogenes are driven from large regulatory elements, called super-enhancers, which recruit much of the cellM-bM-^@M-^Ys transcriptional apparatus and are defined by extensive H3K27 acetylation. We found that in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), somatic heterozygous mutations introduce MYB binding motifs in a precise noncoding site, which nucleate a super-enhancer upstream of the TAL1 oncogene. Further analysis of genome-wide binding identified MYB and its histone acetylase binding partner CBP as core components of the TAL1 complex and of the TAL1-mediated feed-forward auto-regulatory loop that drives T-ALL. Furthermore, MYB and CBP occupy endogenous MYB binding sites in the majority of super-enhancer sites found in T-ALL cells. Thus, our study reveals a new mechanism for the generation of super-enhancers in malignant cells involving the introduction of somatic indel mutations within non-coding sequences, which introduce aberrant binding sites for the MYB master transcription factor. ChIP-Seq for transcription factors and co-factors in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines
Project description:Recent studies have revealed a myriad of non-coding transcripts in different organisms. For instances, the presence of short bidirectional transcripts is a hallmark of active promoters in mammals, while upstream non-coding transcripts can be detected at most expressed genes in conditions where the RNA degradation machinery is inhibited. Here, we used RNA-seq with very high sequencing depth to characterize strand specific transcripts from primary mouse tissues. We found that a substantial fraction of gene promoters sustain expression of long non-coding antisense transcripts. These transcripts have an average size of 6 kb, have features of mature transcripts, but remain associated with the chromatin. We named this new class of non-coding RNAs Long Upstream Antisense Transcripts (LUAT). Strikingly, the LUAT and coding gene pairs are usually co-regulated, with the associated genes often/generally coding for transcriptional regulators functioning during development and cell differentiation. Indeed, these bidirectional promoters share several characteristic of developmental gene promoters, including large CpG islands and high degree of conservation, and display symetrical GC skews. Finally, we found that bidirectional promoters have enlarged platforms of Pol II initiation, associated with an intensified rate of early transcriptional elongation. We concluded that promoters of developmental regulators are characterized by a specialized mechanism of Pol II transcription, whereby Pol II poising is directly coupled to relaxed bidirectional transcription. Expression of noncoding RNA transcripts in CD4-,CD8- double negative thymocytes from Rag2-/- mice was studied by strand-specific, ribosomal-depleted RNA-seq experiment, using Illumina sequencer
Project description:Recent studies have revealed a myriad of non-coding transcripts in different organisms. For instances, the presence of short bidirectional transcripts is a hallmark of active promoters in mammals, while upstream non-coding transcripts can be detected at most expressed genes in conditions where the RNA degradation machinery is inhibited. Here, we used RNA-seq with very high sequencing depth to characterize strand specific transcripts from primary mouse tissues. We found that a substantial fraction of gene promoters sustain expression of long non-coding antisense transcripts. These transcripts have an average size of 6 kb, have features of mature transcripts, but remain associated with the chromatin. We named this new class of non-coding RNAs Long Upstream Antisense Transcripts (LUAT). Strikingly, the LUAT and coding gene pairs are usually co-regulated, with the associated genes often/generally coding for transcriptional regulators functioning during development and cell differentiation. Indeed, these bidirectional promoters share several characteristic of developmental gene promoters, including large CpG islands and high degree of conservation, and display symetrical GC skews. Finally, we found that bidirectional promoters have enlarged platforms of Pol II initiation, associated with an intensified rate of early transcriptional elongation. We concluded that promoters of developmental regulators are characterized by a specialized mechanism of Pol II transcription, whereby Pol II poising is directly coupled to relaxed bidirectional transcription. Expression of noncoding RNA transcripts in CD4-,CD8- double negative thymocytes from Rag2-/- mice was studied by strand-specific, ribosomal-depleted RNA-seq experiment, using paired-end sequencing on AB SOLiD System 4.0
Project description:Recent studies have revealed a myriad of non-coding transcripts in different organisms. For instances, the presence of short bidirectional transcripts is a hallmark of active promoters in mammals, while upstream non-coding transcripts can be detected at most expressed genes in conditions where the RNA degradation machinery is inhibited. Here, we used RNA-seq with very high sequencing depth to characterize strand specific transcripts from primary mouse tissues. We found that a substantial fraction of gene promoters sustain expression of long non-coding antisense transcripts. These transcripts have an average size of 6 kb, have features of mature transcripts, but remain associated with the chromatin. We named this new class of non-coding RNAs Long Upstream Antisense Transcripts (LUAT). Strikingly, the LUAT and coding gene pairs are usually co-regulated, with the associated genes often/generally coding for transcriptional regulators functioning during development and cell differentiation. Indeed, these bidirectional promoters share several characteristic of developmental gene promoters, including large CpG islands and high degree of conservation, and display symetrical GC skews. Finally, we found that bidirectional promoters have enlarged platforms of Pol II initiation, associated with an intensified rate of early transcriptional elongation. We concluded that promoters of developmental regulators are characterized by a specialized mechanism of Pol II transcription, whereby Pol II poising is directly coupled to relaxed bidirectional transcription.