Development and function of the human heart depend on the dynamic control of tissue-specific gene expression by distant-acting transcriptional enhancers. To generate an accurate genome-wide map of human heart enhancers, we used an epigenomic enhancer discovery approach and identified ∼6,200 candidate enhancer sequences directly from fetal and adult human heart tissue. Consistent with their predicted function, these elements were markedly enriched near genes implicated in heart development, function and disease. To further validate their in vivo enhancer activity, we tested 65 of these human sequences in a transgenic mouse enhancer assay and observed that 43 (66%) drove reproducible reporter gene expression in the heart. These results support the discovery of a genome-wide set of noncoding sequences highly enriched in human heart enhancers that is likely to facilitate downstream studies of the role of enhancers in development and pathological conditions of the heart.
Pubmed ID: 22138689 RIS Download
Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.
Encyclopedia of DNA elements consisting of list of functional elements in human genome, including elements that act at protein and RNA levels, and regulatory elements that control cells and circumstances in which gene is active. Enables scientific and medical communities to interpret role of human genome in biology and disease. Provides identification of common cell types to facilitate integrative analysis and new experimental technologies based on high-throughput sequencing. Genome Browser containing ENCODE and Epigenomics Roadmap data. Data are available for entire human genome.
View all literature mentionsMus musculus with name Crl:CD1(ICR) from IMSR.
View all literature mentions