Systematic identification and characterization of repressive domains in Drosophila transcription factors.

All multicellular life relies on differential gene expression, determined by regulatory DNA elements and DNA-binding transcription factors that mediate activation and repression via cofactor recruitment. While activators have been extensively characterized, repressors are less well studied: the identities and properties of their repressive domains (RDs) are typically unknown and the specific co-repressors (CoRs) they recruit have not been determined. Here, we develop a high-throughput, next-generation sequencing-based screening method, repressive-domain (RD)-seq, to systematically identify RDs in complex DNA-fragment libraries. Screening more than 200,000 fragments covering the coding sequences of all transcription-related proteins in Drosophila melanogaster, we identify 195 RDs in known repressors and in proteins not previously associated with repression. Many RDs contain recurrent short peptide motifs, which are conserved between fly and human and are required for RD function, as demonstrated by motif mutagenesis. Moreover, we show that RDs that contain one of five distinct repressive motifs interact with and depend on different CoRs, such as Groucho, CtBP, Sin3A, or Smrter. These findings advance our understanding of repressors, their sequences, and the functional impact of sequence-altering mutations and should provide a valuable resource for further studies.

Differential cofactor dependencies define distinct types of human enhancers.

All multicellular organisms rely on differential gene transcription regulated by genomic enhancers, which function through cofactors that are recruited by transcription factors1,2. Emerging evidence suggests that not all cofactors are required at all enhancers3-5, yet whether these observations reflect more general principles or distinct types of enhancers remained unknown. Here we categorized human enhancers by their cofactor dependencies and show that these categories provide a framework to understand the sequence and chromatin diversity of enhancers and their roles in different gene-regulatory programmes. We quantified enhancer activities along the entire human genome using STARR-seq6 in HCT116 cells, following the rapid degradation of eight cofactors. This analysis identified different types of enhancers with distinct cofactor requirements, sequences and chromatin properties. Some enhancers were insensitive to the depletion of the core Mediator subunit MED14 or the bromodomain protein BRD4 and regulated distinct transcriptional programmes. In particular, canonical Mediator7 seemed dispensable for P53-responsive enhancers, and MED14-depleted cells induced endogenous P53 target genes. Similarly, BRD4 was not required for the transcription of genes that bear CCAAT boxes and a TATA box (including histone genes and LTR12 retrotransposons) or for the induction of heat-shock genes. This categorization of enhancers through cofactor dependencies reveals distinct enhancer types that can bypass broadly utilized cofactors, which illustrates how alternative ways to activate transcription separate gene expression programmes and provide a conceptual framework to understand enhancer function and regulatory specificity.

Transcriptional cofactors display specificity for distinct types of core promoters.

Transcriptional cofactors (COFs) communicate regulatory cues from enhancers to promoters and are central effectors of transcription activation and gene expression1. Although some COFs have been shown to prefer certain promoter types2-5 over others (for example, see refs 6,7), the extent to which different COFs display intrinsic specificities for distinct promoters is unclear. Here we use a high-throughput promoter-activity assay in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells to screen 23 COFs for their ability to activate 72,000 candidate core promoters (CPs). We observe differential activation of CPs, indicating distinct regulatory preferences or 'compatibilities'8,9 between COFs and specific types of CPs. These functionally distinct CP types are differentially enriched for known sequence elements2,4, such as the TATA box, downstream promoter element (DPE) or TCT motif, and display distinct chromatin properties at endogenous loci. Notably, the CP types differ in their relative abundance of H3K4me3 and H3K4me1 marks (see also refs 10-12), suggesting that these histone modifications might distinguish trans-regulatory factors rather than promoter- versus enhancer-type cis-regulatory elements. We confirm the existence of distinct COF-CP compatibilities in two additional Drosophila cell lines and in human cells, for which we find COFs that prefer TATA-box or CpG-island promoters, respectively. Distinct compatibilities between COFs and promoters can explain how different enhancers specifically activate distinct sets of genes9, alternative promoters within the same genes, and distinct transcription start sites within the same promoter13. Thus, COF-promoter compatibilities may underlie distinct transcriptional programs in species as divergent as flies and humans.

A high-throughput method to identify trans-activation domains within transcription factor sequences.

Even though transcription factors (TFs) are central players of gene regulation and have been extensively studied, their regulatory trans-activation domains (tADs) often remain unknown and a systematic functional characterization of tADs is lacking. Here, we present a novel high-throughput approach tAD-seq to functionally test thousands of candidate tADs from different TFs in parallel. The tADs we identify by pooled screening validate in individual luciferase assays, whereas neutral regions do not. Interestingly, the tADs are found at arbitrary positions within the TF sequences and can contain amino acid (e.g., glutamine) repeat regions or overlap structured domains, including helix-loop-helix domains that are typically annotated as DNA-binding. We also identified tADs in the non-native reading frames, confirming that random sequences can function as tADs, albeit weakly. The identification of tADs as short protein sequences sufficient for transcription activation will enable the systematic study of TF function, which-particularly for TFs of different transcription activating functionalities-is still poorly understood.

Resolving systematic errors in widely used enhancer activity assays in human cells.

The identification of transcriptional enhancers in the human genome is a prime goal in biology. Enhancers are typically predicted via chromatin marks, yet their function is primarily assessed with plasmid-based reporter assays. Here, we show that such assays are rendered unreliable by two previously reported phenomena relating to plasmid transfection into human cells: (i) the bacterial plasmid origin of replication (ORI) functions as a conflicting core promoter and (ii) a type I interferon (IFN-I) response is activated. These cause confounding false positives and negatives in luciferase assays and STARR-seq screens. We overcome both problems by employing the ORI as core promoter and by inhibiting two IFN-I-inducing kinases, enabling genome-wide STARR-seq screens in human cells. In HeLa-S3 cells, we uncover strong enhancers, IFN-I-induced enhancers, and enhancers endogenously silenced at the chromatin level. Our findings apply to all episomal enhancer activity assays in mammalian cells and are key to the characterization of human enhancers.

Genome-wide assessment of sequence-intrinsic enhancer responsiveness at single-base-pair resolution.

Gene expression is controlled by enhancers that activate transcription from the core promoters of their target genes. Although a key function of core promoters is to convert enhancer activities into gene transcription, whether and how strongly they activate transcription in response to enhancers has not been systematically assessed on a genome-wide level. Here we describe self-transcribing active core promoter sequencing (STAP-seq), a method to determine the responsiveness of genomic sequences to enhancers, and apply it to the Drosophila melanogaster genome. We cloned candidate fragments at the position of the core promoter (also called minimal promoter) in reporter plasmids with or without a strong enhancer, transfected the resulting library into cells, and quantified the transcripts that initiated from each candidate for each setup by deep sequencing. In the presence of a single strong enhancer, the enhancer responsiveness of different sequences differs by several orders of magnitude, and different levels of responsiveness are associated with genes of different functions. We also identify sequence features that predict enhancer responsiveness and discuss how different core promoters are employed for the regulation of gene expression.

Enhancer-core-promoter specificity separates developmental and housekeeping gene regulation.

Gene transcription in animals involves the assembly of RNA polymerase II at core promoters and its cell-type-specific activation by enhancers that can be located more distally. However, how ubiquitous expression of housekeeping genes is achieved has been less clear. In particular, it is unknown whether ubiquitously active enhancers exist and how developmental and housekeeping gene regulation is separated. An attractive hypothesis is that different core promoters might exhibit an intrinsic specificity to certain enhancers. This is conceivable, as various core promoter sequence elements are differentially distributed between genes of different functions, including elements that are predominantly found at either developmentally regulated or at housekeeping genes. Here we show that thousands of enhancers in Drosophila melanogaster S2 and ovarian somatic cells (OSCs) exhibit a marked specificity to one of two core promoters--one derived from a ubiquitously expressed ribosomal protein gene and another from a developmentally regulated transcription factor--and confirm the existence of these two classes for five additional core promoters from genes with diverse functions. Housekeeping enhancers are active across the two cell types, while developmental enhancers exhibit strong cell-type specificity. Both enhancer classes differ in their genomic distribution, the functions of neighbouring genes, and the core promoter elements of these neighbouring genes. In addition, we identify two transcription factors--Dref and Trl--that bind and activate housekeeping versus developmental enhancers, respectively. Our results provide evidence for a sequence-encoded enhancer-core-promoter specificity that separates developmental and housekeeping gene regulatory programs for thousands of enhancers and their target genes across the entire genome.

Hormone-responsive enhancer-activity maps reveal predictive motifs, indirect repression, and targeting of closed chromatin.

Steroid hormones act as important developmental switches, and their nuclear receptors regulate many genes. However, few hormone-dependent enhancers have been characterized, and important aspects of their sequence architecture, cell-type-specific activating and repressing functions, or the regulatory roles of their chromatin structure have remained unclear. We used STARR-seq, a recently developed enhancer-screening assay, and ecdysone signaling in two different Drosophila cell types to derive genome-wide hormone-dependent enhancer-activity maps. We demonstrate that enhancer activation depends on cis-regulatory motif combinations that differ between cell types and can predict cell-type-specific ecdysone targeting. Activated enhancers are often not accessible prior to induction. Enhancer repression following hormone treatment seems independent of receptor motifs and receptor binding to the enhancer, as we show using ChIP-seq, but appears to rely on motifs for other factors, including Eip74. Our strategy is applicable to study signal-dependent enhancers for different pathways and across organisms.

Dissection of thousands of cell type-specific enhancers identifies dinucleotide repeat motifs as general enhancer features.

Gene expression is determined by genomic elements called enhancers, which contain short motifs bound by different transcription factors (TFs). However, how enhancer sequences and TF motifs relate to enhancer activity is unknown, and general sequence requirements for enhancers or comprehensive sets of important enhancer sequence elements have remained elusive. Here, we computationally dissect thousands of functional enhancer sequences from three different Drosophila cell lines. We find that the enhancers display distinct cis-regulatory sequence signatures, which are predictive of the enhancers' cell type-specific or broad activities. These signatures contain transcription factor motifs and a novel class of enhancer sequence elements, dinucleotide repeat motifs (DRMs). DRMs are highly enriched in enhancers, particularly in enhancers that are broadly active across different cell types. We experimentally validate the importance of the identified TF motifs and DRMs for enhancer function and show that they can be sufficient to create an active enhancer de novo from a nonfunctional sequence. The function of DRMs as a novel class of general enhancer features that are also enriched in human regulatory regions might explain their implication in several diseases and provides important insights into gene regulation.

Genome-wide quantitative enhancer activity maps identified by STARR-seq.

Genomic enhancers are important regulators of gene expression, but their identification is a challenge, and methods depend on indirect measures of activity. We developed a method termed STARR-seq to directly and quantitatively assess enhancer activity for millions of candidates from arbitrary sources of DNA, which enables screens across entire genomes. When applied to the Drosophila genome, STARR-seq identifies thousands of cell type-specific enhancers across a broad continuum of strengths, links differential gene expression to differences in enhancer activity, and creates a genome-wide quantitative enhancer map. This map reveals the highly complex regulation of transcription, with several independent enhancers for both developmental regulators and ubiquitously expressed genes. STARR-seq can be used to identify and quantify enhancer activity in other eukaryotes, including humans.

Multiple site sampling does not increase the sensitivity of Chlamydia trachomatis detection in infertility patients.

OBJECTIVE: Persistent Chlamydia trachomatis infections are associated with tubal pathology. We studied whether sampling from multiple sites would increase the identification of the infections. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Tertiary care facility. PATIENT(S): Two hundred two infertile women. INTERVENTION(S): Smears were taken from the cervix, urethra, high vagina, fimbriae and the Douglas cavity. Blood samples were collected and tubal patency was assessed by pertubation with lipiodol and methylene blue. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Detection of C. trachomatis DNA, detection of IgA and IgG antibodies against C. trachomatis, and antibodies against chlamydial heat-shock protein 60, tubal patency. RESULT(S): Chlamydia trachomatis was detected in 2 of 202 patients, for an overall prevalence of 1%. In both patients PCR results were positive in the cervical, vaginal, and urethral specimens. Chlamydia trachomatis IgG, IgA, and chlamydial heat-shock protein 60 IgG were significantly more prevalent in women with distal tubal pathology than in those without (26/40 [65.0%] vs. 16/162 [9.9%], 9/40 [22.5%] vs. 7/162 [4.3%], and 34/40 [85.0%] vs. 34/162 [21.0%]). Bacterial colonization was found in 1 of 202 samples from the Douglas cavity. CONCLUSION(S): Routine DNA testing for C. trachomatis should be confined to cervical sampling. The association between tubal pathology and seropositivity of IgG, IgA, and cHSP60 IgG was confirmed but did not add clinically valuable information during the diagnostic workup of infertility patients.

Development of pulmonary fibrosis through a pathway involving the transcription factor Fra-2/AP-1.

Studies using genetically modified mice have revealed fundamental functions of the transcription factor Fos/AP-1 in bone biology, inflammation, and cancer. However, the biological role of the Fos-related protein Fra-2 is not well defined in vivo. Here we report an unexpected profibrogenic function of Fra-2 in transgenic mice, in which ectopic expression of Fra-2 in various organs resulted in generalized fibrosis with predominant manifestation in the lung. The pulmonary phenotype was characterized by vascular remodeling and obliteration of pulmonary arteries, which coincided with expression of osteopontin, an AP-1 target gene involved in vascular remodeling and fibrogenesis. These alterations were followed by inflammation; release of profibrogenic factors, such as IL-4, insulin-like growth factor 1, and CXCL5; progressive fibrosis; and premature mortality. Genetic experiments and bone marrow reconstitutions suggested that fibrosis developed independently of B and T cells and was not mediated by autoimmunity despite the marked inflammation observed in transgenic lungs. Importantly, strong expression of Fra-2 was also observed in human samples of idiopathic and autoimmune-mediated pulmonary fibrosis. These findings indicate that Fra-2 expression is sufficient to cause pulmonary fibrosis in mice, possibly by linking vascular remodeling and fibrogenesis, and suggest that Fra-2 has to be considered a contributing pathogenic factor of pulmonary fibrosis in humans.

Hepatocyte survival in acute hepatitis is due to c-Jun/AP-1-dependent expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase.

Analysis of the molecular factors determining hepatocyte survival or death in response to inflammatory stimuli is essential for understanding the pathogenesis of inflammatory liver disease and for identifying novel therapeutic approaches. c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is a major mediator of cytokine-induced cell death during hepatitis, but the signaling pathways downstream of JNK remain less well defined. Here we show that the transcription factor c-Jun/AP-1, a prototypic target of JNK, is strongly expressed in the liver of patients with acute liver injury. The molecular function of c-Jun in inflammatory liver disease was analyzed in mice by using the Con A model of T cell-mediated hepatitis. Mice lacking c-Jun in hepatocytes display increased liver cell death and mortality upon Con A injection. This phenotype is caused by impaired expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (nos2), a direct transcriptional target of c-Jun, and reduced production of hepatoprotective nitric oxide (NO). Moreover, increased hepatotoxicity in mutant mice is likely caused by hypoxia and oxidative stress and can be rescued pharmacologically by liver-specific NO delivery. These findings demonstrate that c-Jun/AP-1 is hepatoprotective during acute hepatitis by regulating nos2/NO expression and thus functionally antagonizes the cell death-promoting functions of JNK.

c-Jun/AP-1 controls liver regeneration by repressing p53/p21 and p38 MAPK activity.

The AP-1 transcription factor c-Jun is a key regulator of hepatocyte proliferation. Mice lacking c-Jun in the liver (c-jun (Deltali*)) display impaired liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy (PH). This phenotype correlates with increased protein levels of the cdk-inhibitor p21 in the liver. We performed PH experiments in several double-knockout mouse models to genetically identify the signaling events regulated by c-Jun. Inactivation of p53 in c-jun (Deltali*) mice abrogated both hepatocyte cell cycle block and increased p21 protein expression. Consistently, liver regeneration was rescued in c-jun (Deltali*) p21 (-/-) double-mutant mice. This indicated that c-Jun controls hepatocyte proliferation by a p53/p21-dependent mechanism. Analyses of p21 mRNA and protein expression in livers of c-jun (Deltali*) mice after PH revealed that the accumulation of p21 protein is due to a post-transcriptional/post-translational mechanism. We have investigated several candidate pathways implicated in the regulation of p21 expression, and observed increased activity of the stress kinase p38 in regenerating livers of c-jun (Deltali*) mice. Importantly, conditional deletion of p38alpha in livers of c-jun (Deltali*) mice fully restored hepatocyte proliferation and attenuated increased p21 protein levels after PH. These data demonstrate that c-Jun/AP-1 regulates liver regeneration through a novel molecular pathway that involves p53, p21, and the stress kinase p38alpha.

Distinct functions of junD in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.

Cardiac hypertrophic stimuli induce both adaptive and maladaptive growth response pathways in heart. Here we show that mice lacking junD develop less adaptive hypertrophy in heart after mechanical pressure overload, while cardiomyocyte-specific expression of junD in mice results in spontaneous ventricular dilation and decreased contractility. In contrast, fra-1 conditional knock-out mice have a normal hypertrophic response, whereas hearts from fra-1 transgenic mice decompensate prematurely. Moreover, fra-1 transgenic mice simultaneously lacking junD reveal a spontaneous dilated cardiomyopathy associated with increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis and a primary mitochondrial defect. These data suggest that junD promotes both adaptive-protective and maladaptive hypertrophy in heart, depending on its expression levels.

The Fos-related antigen Fra-1 is an activator of bone matrix formation.

Ectopic expression of the transcription factor Fra-1 in transgenic mice leads to osteosclerosis, a bone disorder characterized by increased bone mass. The molecular basis for this phenotype is unknown and Fra-1 functions cannot be studied by a conventional loss-of-function approach, since fra-1-knockout mice die in utero likely due to placental defects. Here we show that the lethality of fra-1-knockout mice can be rescued by specific deletion of Fra-1 only in the mouse embryo and not in the placenta. Mice lacking Fra-1 (fra-1(delta/delta)) are viable and develop osteopenia, a low bone mass disease. Long bones of fra-1(delta/delta) mice appear to have normal osteoclasts but express reduced amounts of bone matrix components produced by osteoblasts and chondrocytes such as osteocalcin, collagen1a2 and matrix Gla protein. The gene for matrix Gla protein seems to be a specific target of Fra-1 since its expression was markedly increased in the long bones of fra-1-transgenic mice. These results uncover a novel function of Fra-1 in regulating bone mass through bone matrix production by osteoblasts and chondrocytes.

Liver tumor development. c-Jun antagonizes the proapoptotic activity of p53.

The transcription factor c-Jun mediates several cellular processes, including proliferation and survival, and is upregulated in many carcinomas. Liver-specific inactivation of c-Jun at different stages of tumor development was used to study its role in chemically induced hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) in mice. The requirement for c-jun was restricted to early stages of tumor development, and the number and size of hepatic tumors was dramatically reduced when c-jun was inactivated after the tumor had initiated. The impaired tumor development correlated with increased levels of p53 and its target gene noxa, resulting in the induction of apoptosis without affecting cell proliferation. Primary hepatocytes lacking c-Jun showed increased sensitivity to TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis, which was abrogated in the absence of p53. These data indicate that c-Jun prevents apoptosis by antagonizing p53 activity, illustrating a mechanism that might contribute to the early stages of human HCC development.