Analysis of the transcriptional changes in the heart resulting from the loss of cardiac enhancers. As there remains a limited understanding of the phenotypic consequences of enhancer mutations, we examined the impact of loss of function mutations by deleting two enhancers near heart disease genes in mice. In both cases, we observed loss of target gene expression, as well as cardiac phenotypes consistent with heart disease in humans, highlighting the functional importance of enhancers for normal heart function, as well as the potential contribution of enhancer mutations to heart disease. Overall design: Hearts were dissected from wild-type and enhancer-null mice (either embryonic or adult) and processed for deep RNA-seq analysis.
Genome-wide compendium and functional assessment of in vivo heart enhancers.
Sex, Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesMammalian genomes are organized into megabase-scale topologically associated domains (TADs) that have been proposed to represent large regulatory units. Here we demonstrate that disruption of TADs can cause rewiring of long-range regulatory architecture and result in pathogenic phenotypes. We show that distinct human limb malformations are caused by deletions, inversions, or duplications altering the structure of the TAD-spanning WNT6/IHH/EPHA4/PAX3 locus. Using CRISPR/Cas genome editing, we generated mice with corresponding rearrangements. Both in mouse limb tissue and patient-derived fibroblasts, disease-relevant structural changes cause ectopic interactions between promoters and non-coding DNA, and a cluster of limb enhancers normally associated with Epha4 is misplaced relative to TAD boundaries and drives ectopic limb expression of another gene in the locus. Our results demonstrate the functional importance of TADs for orchestrating gene expression via genome architecture and indicate criteria for predicting the pathogenicity of human structural variants, particularly in non-coding regions of the human genome. Overall design: RNA-seq profile of developing distal limbs of mutants and WT animals at E11.5
Disruptions of topological chromatin domains cause pathogenic rewiring of gene-enhancer interactions.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesThyroid hormone is crucial for normal brain development. Thyroid hormone transporters control thyroid hormone homeostatis in brain. Mutations in the thyroid hormone transporter MCT8 result in a complex endocrine and neurological phenotype.
Transcriptional profiling of fibroblasts from patients with mutations in MCT8 and comparative analysis with the human brain transcriptome.
Specimen part
View SamplesThis study was performed to understand the gene expression changes that accompany treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. Human RCC cell lines were implanted into the flanks of nude beige mice, allowed to reach 12mm in long axis, and then treated with TKIs (sunitinib or sorafenib). Tumors were excised at 2 timepoints (prior to any therapy and at the 20mm endpoint of the study) and gene expression analysis was performed.
Anti-S1P Antibody as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for VEGFR TKI-Resistant Renal Cancer.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment
View SamplesDetermine mRNA expression levels in cultured cardiomyocytes derived from human iPS cells Overall design: 1 sample
Muscle-specific stress fibers give rise to sarcomeres in cardiomyocytes.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesChromatin-based functional genomic analyses and genomewide association studies (GWASs) together implicate enhancers as critical elements influencing gene expression and risk for common diseases. Here, we performed systematic chromatin and transcriptome profiling in human pancreatic islets. Integrated analysis of islet data with those generated by the ENCODE project in nine cell types identified specific and significant enrichment of type 2 diabetes and related quantitative trait GWAS variants in islet enhancers. Our integrated chromatin maps reveal that most enhancers are short (median = 0.8 kb). Each cell type also contains a substantial number of more extended (=3 kb) enhancers. Interestingly, these stretch enhancers are often tissue-specific and overlap locus control regions, suggesting that they are important chromatin regulatory beacons. Indeed, we show that (i) tissue specificity of enhancers and nearby gene expression increase with enhancer length; (ii) neighborhoods containing stretch enhancers are enriched for important cell type-specific genes; and (iii) GWAS variants associated with traits relevant to a particular cell type are more enriched in stretch enhancers compared with short enhancers. Reporter constructs containing stretch enhancer sequences exhibited tissue-specific activity in cell culture experiments and in transgenic mice. These results suggest that stretch enhancers are critical chromatin elements for coordinating cell type-specific regulatory programs and that sequence variation in stretch enhancers affects risk of major common human diseases. Overall design: Integrated analysis of islet chromatin modification and transcriptome data with those generated by the ENCODE project. NISC Comparative Sequencing Program
Chromatin stretch enhancer states drive cell-specific gene regulation and harbor human disease risk variants.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesTranscriptional profiling shows that Peyer´s patch CD4+ T cells from mice kept on dietary antigens are skewed towards a Tfh cell programme. Continous recognition of dietary antigens does not lead to classical signature of exhaustion. Overall design: Examination of conventional and elemental diet on gene expression of PP T cells
Intestinal development and homeostasis require activation and apoptosis of diet-reactive T cells.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesContext: Despite the well-recognized clinical features due to insufficient or excessive thyroid hormone (TH) levels in humans, it is largely unknown which genes are regulated by TH in human tissues. objective: To study the effect of TH on human gene expression profiles in whole blood, mainly consisting of TRa-expressing cells. Methods: We performed next-generation RNA sequencing on whole blood samples from 8 athyroid patients (4 females) on and after 4 weeks off levothyroxine replacement. Gene expression changes were analyzed through paired differential expression analysis and confirmed in a validation cohort. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was applied to identify thyroid state-related networks. Results: We detected 486 differentially expressed (DE) genes (fold-change above 1.5; multiple testing corrected P-value <0.05), of which 76 % were positively and 24 % were negatively regulated. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis revealed that 3 biological processes were significantly overrepresented of which the process translational elongation showed the highest fold enrichment (7.3 fold, P=1.8 x 10-6). Comparative transcriptome analysis revealed significant overlap with DE-genes in muscle samples upon different thyroid state (1.7-fold enrichment; P=0.02). WGCNA analysis independently identified various gene clusters that correlated with thyroid state. Further GO-analysis suggested that thyroid state regulates platelet function. Conclusions: Changes in thyroid state regulate numerous genes in human whole blood, predominantly TRa-expressing leukocytes. In addition, TH may regulate gene expression in platelets. Whole blood samples might potentially be used as a proxy for other TRa-expressing tissues in humans. Overall design: Transcriptome profiling (RNA-Seq) of 8 thyroidectomized human whole blood samples, sequenced first in hypothyroid state and after levothyroxine supplementation sequenced in a hypothyroid (mild thyreotoxic state) state on a Illumina HiSeq 2500 system.
Thyroid State Regulates Gene Expression in Human Whole Blood.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesThe homeostasis of circulating B cell subsets in the peripheral blood of healthy adults is well regulated, but in disease it can be severely disturbed. Thus, a subgroup of patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) presents with an extraordinary expansion of an unusual B cell population characterized by the low expression of CD21. Since these circulating atypical B cells in the blood of CVID patients could not be assigned to any certain B cell differentiation stage in the periphery, they were designated as CD21low B cells. Although, CD21low B cells are polyclonal and unmutated IgM+IgD+ B cells like naive B cells in the peripheral blood, they reveal several distinct phenotypic and functional features.
Circulating CD21low B cells in common variable immunodeficiency resemble tissue homing, innate-like B cells.
Specimen part, Disease
View SamplesLarge-scale genome sequencing is poised to provide a substantial increase in the rate of discovery of disease-associated mutations, but the functional interpretation of such mutations remains challenging. Here we show that deletions of a sequence on human chromosome 16 that we term the intestine-critical region (ICR) cause intractable congenital diarrhoea in infants. Reporter assays in transgenic mice show that the ICR contains a regulatory sequence that activates transcription during the development of the gastrointestinal system. Targeted deletion of the ICR in mice caused symptoms that recapitulated the human condition. Transcriptome analysis revealed that an unannotated open reading frame (Percc1) flanks the regulatory sequence, and the expression of this gene was lost in the developing gut of mice that lacked the ICR. Percc1 knockout mice displayed phenotypes similar to those observed on ICR deletion in mice and patients, whereas an ICR-driven Percc1 transgene was sufficient to rescue the phenotypes found in mice that lacked the ICR. Together, our results identify a gene that is critical for intestinal function and underscore the need for targeted in vivo studies to interpret the growing number of clinical genetic findings that do not affect known protein-coding genes. Overall design: Total RNA-seq from dissected regions of the digestive tract, from wild-type and percc1-/- mice.
Noncoding deletions reveal a gene that is critical for intestinal function.
Specimen part, Subject
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