Biology subjects

Krijger, P. H. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Krijger, P. H. L..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

A cis-regulatory element regulates ERAP2 expression through autoimmune disease risk SNPs

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) near the ERAP2 gene are associated with autoimmune conditions such as Crohns disease, and birdshot chorioretinopathy, as well as protection against lethal infections, including the Black Death. Due to high linkage disequilibrium (LD), a great number of trait-associated SNPs are correlated with ERAP2 expression, however their functional mechanisms remain unidentified. We used genome editing and functional genomics to identify causal variants that remain obscured by LD. We demonstrate by reciprocal allelic replacement that ERAP2 expression is directly controlled by the genotype of splice region SNP rs2248374. However, we demonstrate that autoimmune disease-risk SNPs located near the downstream LNPEP gene promoter are independently associated with ERAP2 expression. Allele-specific conformation capture assays revealed long-range chromatin contacts between the LNPEP promoter region and the ERAP2 promoter and showed that interactions were stronger in patients carrying the alleles that increase susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. Replacing the disease-associated SNPs in the LNPEP promoter by reference sequences lowered ERAP2 expression. These findings show that clustered GWAS signals associated with diverse autoimmune conditions and lethal infections act in concert to control ERAP2 expression and that disease-associated variants can convert a gene promoter region into a potent enhancer of a distal gene.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2023

Targeted cohesin loading characterizes the entry and exit sites of loop extrusion trajectories

The cohesin complex shapes chromosomes by DNA loop extrusion, but individual extrusion trajectories were so far unappreciable in vivo. Here, we developed and validated TArgeted Cohesin Loader (TACL), a system enabling the strong activation of anchored loop extrusion from dozens of defined genomic sites in living cells. Studying their individual loop extrusion trajectories revealed that extruding cohesinSTAG2 stops not only at domain boundaries but at all flanking CTCF sites, engaging them in a complex transient looping network that supports intradomain contacts. CohesinSTAG1 cannot associate with weak CTCF binding sites and fails to similarly support intradomain interactions. NIPBL-MAU2 remains associated with cohesin when stalled at looping CTCF sites, suggesting these factors may also be required for loop stabilization. TACL induces cohesin traffic jams and illegal loops with divergent CTCF sites, demonstrating that stalled cohesin can block extruding cohesin in vivo. Genes exposed to TACL-induced loop extrusion were collectively hindered in transcription and the underlying chromatin altered its accessibility and reduced its H3K27ac marks. Thus, by enabling the study of individual loop extrusion trajectories in vivo, we could assign new functions to players, identify new looping networks and uncover an interplay between loop extrusion, gene transcription and chromatin composition.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2022

CAF-1 deposits newly synthesized histones during DNA replication using distinct mechanisms on the leading and lagging strands

During every cell cycle, both the genome and the associated chromatin must be accurately replicated. Chromatin Assembly Factor-1 (CAF-1) is a key regulator of chromatin replication, but how CAF-1 cooperates with the DNA replication machinery is unknown. Here, we reveal that this crosstalk differs between the leading and lagging strand at replication forks. Using biochemical reconstitution, we show that DNA and histones promote CAF-1 recruitment to its binding partner PCNA and reveal that two CAF-1 complexes are required for efficient nucleosome assembly under these conditions. Remarkably, in the context of the replisome, CAF-1 competes with the leading strand DNA polymerase epsilon (Pol{varepsilon}) for PCNA binding, but not with the lagging strand DNA polymerase Delta (Pol{delta}). Yet, in cells, CAF-1 deposits newly synthesized histones equally on both daughter strands. Thus, on the leading strand, chromatin assembly by CAF-1 cannot occur simultaneously to DNA synthesis, while on the lagging strand both processes are coupled. We propose that these differences may facilitate distinct parental histone recycling mechanisms and accommodate the inherent asymmetry of DNA replication.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2021

Building regulatory landscapes: enhancer recruits cohesin to create contact domains, engage CTCF sites and activate distant genes

Developmental gene expression is often controlled by distal tissue-specific enhancers. Enhancer action is restricted to topological chromatin domains, typically formed by cohesin-mediated loop extrusion between CTCF-associated boundaries. To better understand how individual regulatory DNA elements form topological domains and control expression, we used a bottom-up approach, building active regulatory landscapes of different sizes in inactive chromatin. We demonstrate that transcriptional output and protection against gene silencing reduces with increased enhancer distance, but that enhancer contact frequencies alone do not dictate transcription activity. The enhancer recruits cohesin to stimulate the formation of local chromatin contact domains and activate flanking CTCF sites for engagement in chromatin looping. Small contact domains can support strong and stable expression of distant genes. The enhancer requires transcription factors and mediator to activate genes over all distance ranges, but relies on cohesin exclusively for the activation of distant genes. Our work supports a model that assigns two functions to enhancers: its classic role to stimulate transcription initiation and elongation from target gene promoters and a role to recruit cohesin for the creation of contact domains, the engagement of flanking CTCF sites in chromatin looping, and the activation of distal target genes.

molecular biology↗