The 3D Chromatin Organization Group of the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute led by Biola M Javierre, in a joint investigation with the University of Southern Denmark, the Babraham Institute, the Odense University Hospital and the Florida State University, has recently revealed that highly connected enhancers communities act as key drivers of lineage-specific gene programs.

In this study, published in Nature Genetics, the authors used high-throughput capture Hi-C to explore the interactome of enhancers during adipogenesis and osteogenesis. They demonstrated that connected enhancer communities are dynamic during cell commitment and this dynamisme is coupled with activity. Connected enhancers are bound by homotypic transcription factors suggesting cross-interaction stabilization of transcription factors. All these findings suggest that enhancer interactions regulate enhancer function and therefore cell differentiation.

See full text: Madsen, J.G.S., Madsen, M.S., Rauch, A. et al. Highly interconnected enhancer communities control lineage-determining genes in human mesenchymal stem cells. Nat Genet (2020).