1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
  2. Genetics and Genomics

Characterization of sequence determinants of enhancer function using natural genetic variation

  1. Marty G Yang
  2. Emi Ling
  3. Christopher J Cowley
  4. Michael E Greenberg  Is a corresponding author
  5. Thomas Vierbuchen  Is a corresponding author
  1. Harvard University, United States
  2. Rockefeller University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, United States
  3. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76500
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Cite this article
  1. Marty G Yang
  2. Emi Ling
  3. Christopher J Cowley
  4. Michael E Greenberg
  5. Thomas Vierbuchen
(2022)
Characterization of sequence determinants of enhancer function using natural genetic variation
eLife 11:e76500.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76500
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Abstract

Sequence variation in enhancers that control cell type-specific gene transcription contributes significantly to phenotypic variation within human populations. However, it remains difficult to predict precisely the effect of any given sequence variant on enhancer function due to the complexity of DNA sequence motifs that determine transcription factor (TF) binding to enhancers in their native genomic context. Using F1-hybrid cells derived from crosses between distantly related inbred strains of mice, we identified thousands of enhancers with allele-specific TF binding and/or activity. We find that genetic variants located within the central region of enhancers are most likely to alter TF binding and enhancer activity. We observe that the AP-1 family of TFs (Fos/Jun) are frequently required for binding of TEAD TFs and for enhancer function. However, many sequence variants outside of core motifs for AP-1 and TEAD also impact enhancer function, including sequences flanking core TF motifs and AP-1 half sites. Taken together, these data represent one of the most comprehensive assessments of allele-specific TF binding and enhancer function to date and reveal how sequence changes at enhancers alter their function across evolutionary timescales.

Data availability

We submitted our data to GEO, and it is now accessible via GSE193728.

The following data sets were generated
The following previously published data sets were used

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Marty G Yang

    Department of Neurobiology, Harvard University, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Emi Ling

    Department of Neurobiology, Harvard University, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-5287-0284

  3. Christopher J Cowley

    Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development, Rockefeller University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Michael E Greenberg

    Department of Neurobiology, Harvard University, Boston, United States
    For correspondence
    meg@hms.harvard.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Thomas Vierbuchen

    Developmental Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
    For correspondence
    vierbuct@mskcc.org
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-5690-5680

Funding

NIH Office of the Director (T32EY00711030)

  • Marty G Yang

NIH Office of the Director (T32AG000222)

  • Marty G Yang

National Science Foundation (DGE0946799)

  • Emi Ling

National Science Foundation (DGE1144152)

  • Emi Ling

NIH Office of the Director (R01 NS115965)

  • Michael E Greenberg

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All animal experiments were approved by the National Institutes of Health and the Harvard Medical School Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and were conducted in compliance with the relevant ethical regulations (Protocol # IS00000074-3)

Reviewing Editor

  1. Stephen CJ Parker, University of Michigan, United States

Publication history

  1. Preprint posted: December 18, 2021 (view preprint)
  2. Received: December 18, 2021
  3. Accepted: August 30, 2022
  4. Accepted Manuscript published: August 31, 2022 (version 1)
  5. Version of Record published: November 14, 2022 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2022, Yang et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Marty G Yang
  2. Emi Ling
  3. Christopher J Cowley
  4. Michael E Greenberg
  5. Thomas Vierbuchen
(2022)
Characterization of sequence determinants of enhancer function using natural genetic variation
eLife 11:e76500.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76500

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