Vitamin C activates young LINE-1 elements in mouse embryonic stem cells via H3K9me3 demethylation.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin C (vitC) enhances the activity of 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases, including TET enzymes, which catalyse DNA demethylation, and Jumonji-domain histone demethylases. The epigenetic remodelling promoted by vitC improves the efficiency of induced pluripotent stem cell derivation, and is required to attain a ground-state of pluripotency in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) that closely mimics the inner cell mass of the early blastocyst. However, genome-wide DNA and histone demethylation can lead to upregulation of transposable elements (TEs), and it is not known how vitC addition in culture media affects TE expression in pluripotent stem cells. RESULTS: Here we show that vitC increases the expression of several TE families, including evolutionarily young LINE-1 (L1) elements, in mouse ESCs. We find that TET activity is dispensable for L1 upregulation, and that instead it occurs largely as a result of H3K9me3 loss mediated by KDM4A/C histone demethylases. Despite increased L1 levels, we did not detect increased somatic insertion rates in vitC-treated cells. Notably, treatment of human ESCs with vitC also increases L1 protein levels, albeit through a distinct, post-transcriptional mechanism. CONCLUSION: VitC directly modulates the expression of mouse L1s and other TEs through epigenetic mechanisms, with potential for downstream effects related to the multiple emerging roles of L1s in cellular function.

Inferring Protein-DNA Binding Profiles at Interspersed Repeats Using HiChIP and PAtChER.

Alignment of short-read sequencing data to interspersed genomic repeats, such as transposable elements, can be problematic. This is especially true for evolutionarily young elements, which have not sufficiently diverged from each other to produce distinct and uniquely mappable reads. Mapping difficulties pose a challenge for studying the portfolio of epigenetic modifications and other chromatin regulators that bind to transposons and dictate their activity, which are typically studied using chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq). Since ChIP-seq requires chromatin fragmentation to achieve appropriate resolution, longer reads do not appreciably improve mappability. Here, we present an experimental and computational protocol that couples ChIP-seq with 3D genome folding information to produce protein binding profiles with dramatically increased coverage at interspersed repeats.

Locus-specific chromatin profiling of evolutionarily young transposable elements.

Despite a vast expansion in the availability of epigenomic data, our knowledge of the chromatin landscape at interspersed repeats remains highly limited by difficulties in mapping short-read sequencing data to these regions. In particular, little is known about the locus-specific regulation of evolutionarily young transposable elements (TEs), which have been implicated in genome stability, gene regulation and innate immunity in a variety of developmental and disease contexts. Here we propose an approach for generating locus-specific protein-DNA binding profiles at interspersed repeats, which leverages information on the spatial proximity between repetitive and non-repetitive genomic regions. We demonstrate that the combination of HiChIP and a newly developed mapping tool (PAtChER) yields accurate protein enrichment profiles at individual repetitive loci. Using this approach, we reveal previously unappreciated variation in the epigenetic profiles of young TE loci in mouse and human cells. Insights gained using our method will be invaluable for dissecting the molecular determinants of TE regulation and their impact on the genome.

Functional evaluation of transposable elements as enhancers in mouse embryonic and trophoblast stem cells.

Transposable elements (TEs) are thought to have helped establish gene regulatory networks. Both the embryonic and extraembryonic lineages of the early mouse embryo have seemingly co-opted TEs as enhancers, but there is little evidence that they play significant roles in gene regulation. Here we tested a set of long terminal repeat TE families for roles as enhancers in mouse embryonic and trophoblast stem cells. Epigenomic and transcriptomic data suggested that a large number of TEs helped to establish tissue-specific gene expression programmes. Genetic editing of individual TEs confirmed a subset of these regulatory relationships. However, a wider survey via CRISPR interference of RLTR13D6 elements in embryonic stem cells revealed that only a minority play significant roles in gene regulation. Our results suggest that a subset of TEs are important for gene regulation in early mouse development, and highlight the importance of functional experiments when evaluating gene regulatory roles of TEs.

Much of what is known about genetics has come from studying only a tiny fraction of the genome's sequence, the part that primarily codes for proteins. But the genome has many other features outside these regions, some of which play an important biological role. Transposable elements ­ repetitive sequences that are present in many species ­ make up around half of the mouse genome. They are 'selfish' elements, in that the spread of them within the genome does not necessarily benefit the host organism. But sometimes transposable elements can be 'domesticated', and used to the host's advantage. For example, transposable elements can generate new genes. In other cases, their non-coding sequences can regulate the activity of other nearby genes or even those elsewhere in the genome. It remains unclear to what extent transposable elements have shaped genome regulation throughout evolution. One idea is that the spread of transposable elements can help to establish large regulatory networks ­ whereby many genes are collectively regulated to produce a specific output. But it has not been fully explored how effective transposable elements are at regulating gene expression. Now, Todd et al. investigate whether particular transposable elements, that are suspected to boost the activity of other genes, are essential for normal gene expression in early mouse development. Todd et al. genetically edited stem cells from the inner and outer layer of the early mouse embryo to find transposable elements that promote gene expression. Whilst some transposable elements were found to be important for gene regulation, not all of the candidates tested were needed to maintain expression levels. To widen the search, several transposable elements were turned off simultaneously by compacting specific stretches of DNA so that they could no longer be activated. When 34 transposable elements were inactivated at once, it emerged that only three transposable elements had a significant impact on gene expression. These findings suggest that whether or not a given transposable element regulates gene expression cannot be predicted solely from profiling the structure and sequence of the genome. This highlights why it is important to interrogate the effect transposable elements have ona gene's role within a cell. Transposable elements are largely disregarded in genomics due to technical difficulties in analysing these repetitive stretches of DNA. But characteristic variations within a population may in part be driven by differences in these parts of the genome, which may also be implicated in diseases such as cancer. Identifying which transposable elements are important for driving gene expression, and linking their actions to specific traits could aid the discovery of important genetic variants.