Lens differentiation is characterized by stage-specific changes in chromatin accessibility correlating with differentiation state-specific gene expression.

Lens differentiation is characterized by stage-specific changes in chromatin accessibility correlating with differentiation state-specific gene expression.
Dev Biol. 2019 May 25;:
Authors: Disatham J, Chauss D, Gheyas R, Brennan L, Blanco D, Daley L, Menko AS, Kantorow M
Abstract
Changes in chromatin accessibility regulate the expression of multiple genes by controlling transcription factor access to key gene regulatory sequences. Here, we sought to establish a potential function for altered chromatin accessibility in control of key gene expression events during lens cell differentiation by establishing genome-wide chromatin accessibility maps specific for four distinct stages of lens cell differentiation and correlating specific changes in chromatin accessibility with genome-wide changes in gene expression. ATAC sequencing was employed to generate chromatin accessibility profiles that were correlated with the expression profiles of over 10,000 lens genes obtained by high-throughput RNA sequencing at the same stages of lens cell differentiation. Approximately 90,000 regions of the lens genome exhibited distinct changes in chromatin accessibility at one or more stages of lens differentiation. Over 1000 genes exhibited high Pearson correlation coefficients (r > 0.7) between altered expression levels at specific stages of lens cell differentiation and changes in chromatin accessibility in potential promoter (-7.5kbp/+2.5kbp of the ...

Source: Developmental Biology - May 24, 2019 Category: Biology Authors: Disatham J, Chauss D, Gheyas R, Brennan L, Blanco D, Daley L, Menko AS, Kantorow M Tags: Dev Biol Source Type: research