Cited by 541Genomics and Chromatin DynamicsDevelopmental Biology and Gene RegulationChromosomal and Genetic Variations

Enhancer loops appear stable during development and are associated with paused polymerase

Open access
Ghavi-Helm, Yad, Klein, Felix A., Pakozdi, Tibor, Ciglar, Lucia, Noordermeer, Daan, Huber, Wolfgang, Furlong, Eileen E. M.·2014·Nature

Abstract

Developmental enhancers initiate transcription and are fundamental to our understanding of developmental networks, evolution and disease. Despite their importance, the properties governing enhancer-promoter interactions and their dynamics during embryogenesis remain unclear. At the β-globin locus, enhancer-promoter interactions appear dynamic and cell-type specific, whereas at the HoxD locus they are stable and ubiquitous, being present in tissues where the target genes are not expressed. The extent to which preformed enhancer-promoter conformations exist at other, more typical, loci and how transcription is eventually triggered is unclear. Here we generated a high-resolution map of enhancer three-dimensional contacts during Drosophila embryogenesis, covering two developmental stages and tissue contexts, at unprecedented resolution. Although local regulatory interactions are common, long-range interactions are highly prevalent within the compact Drosophila genome. Each enhancer contacts multiple enhancers, and promoters with similar expression, suggesting a role in their co-regulation. Notably, most interactions appear unchanged between tissue context and across development, arising before gene activation, and are frequently associated with paused RNA polymerase. Our results indicate that the general topology governing enhancer contacts is conserved from flies to humans and suggest that transcription initiates from preformed enhancer-promoter loops through release of paused polymerase.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nature13417

Cites

56 of 56 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Such enhancer or repressor loop stability has been described during development where they are associated with paused polymerase and in human fibroblasts where TNF-α-responsive enhancers contact their target promoters before TNF-α activation.

    “Such enhancer or repressor loop stability has been described during development where they are associated with paused polymerase28 and in human fibroblasts where TNF-α-responsive enhancers contact their target promoters before TNF-α activation29.”
  • Proximity is sometimes maintained even when the gene or enhancer is inactive.

    “On the other hand, proximity is sometimes maintained even when the gene or enhancer is inactive112,153.”
  • Many enhancers are spatially proximate to their target promoter in 3D, but exceptions have been described.

    “Many enhancers are spatially proximate to their target promoter in 3D109,110, but exceptions have been described111-114.”
  • In Drosophila, pronounced changes in enhancer activity during embryonic development seem to occur without prominent changes in their 3D conformation.

    “In Drosophila, pronounced changes in enhancer activity during embryonic development seem to occur without prominent changes in their 3D conformation [392, 393].”
  • Many functional enhancers likely do not come into direct contact with their target promoters upon Drosophila development.

    “Finally, multiple lines of recent evidence suggest that many functional enhancers likely do not come into direct contact with their target promoters upon Drosophila development (although some “permissive” enhancer–promoter loops are detectable as discussed above) [392].”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Ghavi-Helm, Y., Klein, F. A., Pakozdi, T., Ciglar, L., Noordermeer, D., Huber, W., & Furlong, E. E. M.
Affiliations
  • European Molecular Biology Laboratory (DE)
  • École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
Corresponding author
Furlong, Eileen E. M.
Venue
Nature
Published
2014-07-02
Volume
512
Issue
7512
Pages
96-100
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2008227324
Cited by
536
References
56
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 49 · 2018: 51 · 2017: 56 · 2016: 59 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 11
FWCI
23.92
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
erratum (2016-07-13)
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
Keywords
enhancer-promoter interactions, 3D genome organization, Drosophila embryogenesis, developmental enhancers, cis-regulatory motifs, transcription initiation, chromatin looping, cis-regulatory networks, cis-regulatory evolution
MeSH terms
Animals, Binding Sites, Drosophila melanogaster, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Humans, Promoter Regions, Genetic, DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases, Transcriptional Activation, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Embryonic Development, Genome, Insect, Genetic Loci, Chromosomes, Insect, Transcription Initiation, Genetic

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review