Cited by 1,010Genomics and Chromatin DynamicsChromatin Remodeling and CancerEpigenetics and DNA Methylation

The selection and function of cell type-specific enhancers

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Heinz, Sven, Romanoski, Casey E., Benner, Christopher, Glass, Christopher K.·2015·Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

Abstract

The human body contains several hundred cell types, all of which share the same genome. In metazoans, much of the regulatory code that drives cell type-specific gene expression is located in distal elements called enhancers. Although mammalian genomes contain millions of potential enhancers, only a small subset of them is active in a given cell type. Cell type-specific enhancer selection involves the binding of lineage-determining transcription factors that prime enhancers. Signal-dependent transcription factors bind to primed enhancers, which enables these broadly expressed factors to regulate gene expression in a cell type-specific manner. The expression of genes that specify cell type identity and function is associated with densely spaced clusters of active enhancers known as super-enhancers. The functions of enhancers and super-enhancers are influenced by, and affect, higher-order genomic organization.

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  • H3K27ac is enriched in accessible regions, consistent with its known association with active promoters and enhancers.

    “Based on ChIP-seq and Assay for Transposase Accessible Chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq), H3K27ac was enriched in accessible regions, consistent with the known association of H3K27ac with active promoters and enhancers (Heinz et al., 2015; Klemm et al., 2019).”

    From Loss of epigenetic information as a cause of mammalian aging (2023) · cites this paper as Heinz et al., 2015

    The Enhancer characteristics section (page unavailable) identifies H3K27ac as a feature of active enhancers and describes its correlation with cell-type-specific enhancer activity at an accessible locus. The passages do not establish its association with active promoters. The ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq enrichment result is presented as the citing authors’ own finding, not a result attributed to this review. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Distinct sets of enhancers underlie specific gene expression patterns and allow responses unique to a cell type.

    “Unique enhancer repertoires underly particular patterns of gene expression and enable cell type-specific responses (7).”
  • Tissue-specific gene expression strongly depends on distal elements.

    “The performance improvement was largest for CAGE, possibly because tissue-specific gene expression strongly depends on distal elements11.”
  • The activity of individual enhancers is generally cell-type-specific or condition-specific, and this specificity is a function of the expression levels of TFs able to bind to it.

    “Regardless of any such mechanistic heterogeneity, a common property is that the activity of individual enhancers is generally cell-type-specific or even condition-specific99, and this specificity is a function of the expression levels of the TFs that are able to bind to it89.”
  • Enhancers are punctate relative to broader chromatin domains, but their in vivo functionality depends on chromatin context and the trans milieu.

    “Enhancers are ‘punctate’ relative to broader chromatin domains (e.g. chromosomes, topologically associating domains [G] (TADs) and sub-compartments of TADs87), but their in vivo functionality is dependent on both the chromatin context in which they reside88 and on the trans milieu (e.g. cell-type-specific TFs)89.”

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Authors
Heinz, S., Romanoski, C. E., Benner, C., & Glass, C. K.
Affiliations
  • Salk Institute for Biological Studies (US)
  • University of California San Diego (US)
Corresponding author
Glass, Christopher K.
Venue
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Published
2015-02-04
Volume
16
Issue
3
Pages
144-154
ISSN
  • 1471-0072 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-0080
OpenAlex
W2063815548
Cited by
1,010
References
131
Citations by year
2026: 75 · 2025: 77 · 2024: 86 · 2023: 85 · 2022: 97 · 2021: 87 · 2020: 109 · 2019: 103 · 2018: 100 · 2017: 94 · 2016: 67 · 2015: 30
FWCI
9.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (1K99HL12348)
  • National Cancer Institute (R01CA173903, CA17390)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK063491, DK091183, P30DK063491, R01DK091183)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Chromatin Remodeling and Cancer
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
Keywords
enhancers, super-enhancers, cell type-specific gene expression, transcription factors, chromatin organization, 3D genome organization, distal regulatory elements
MeSH terms
Animals, Cell Differentiation, Chromatin, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Eukaryotic Cells, Histones, Humans, Organ Specificity, Transcription Factors, Transcription, Genetic, Genome, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Cell Lineage

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