Hierarchical cell identities emerge from animal gene regulatory mechanisms

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Grishechkin, Anton, Mukherjee, Abhirup, Karin, Omer
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Grishechkin, Anton
Mukherjee, Abhirup
Karin, Omer
author_facet Grishechkin, Anton
Mukherjee, Abhirup
Karin, Omer
contents The hierarchical organisation of cell identity is a fundamental feature of animal development with rich and well-characterized experimental phenomenology, yet the mechanisms driving its emergence remain unknown. The regulation of cell identity genes relies on a distinct mechanism involving higher-order interactions of transcription factors on distant regulatory regions called enhancers. These interactions are mediated by epigenetic regulators that are broadly shared between enhancers. Through the development of a new and predictive mathematical theory on the effects of epigenetic regulator activity on gene network dynamics, we demonstrate that hierarchical identities are essential emergent properties of animal-specific gene regulatory mechanisms. Hierarchical identities arise from the interplay between enhancer competition for epigenetic readers and cooperation through activation of shared transcriptional programs. We show that epigenetic regulatory mechanisms provide the network with self-similar properties that enable multilineage priming and signal-dependent control of progenitor states. The stabilisation of progenitor states is predicted to be controlled by the balance in activities between epigenetic writers and erasers. Our model quantitatively predicts lineage relationships, reconstructs all known blood progenitor states from terminal states, and explains mechanisms of cell identity dysregulation in cancer and the general differentiation effects of histone deacetylase inhibition. We identify non-specific modulation of enhancer competition as a central regulatory axis, with implications for developmental biology, cancer, and differentiation therapy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_11336
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hierarchical cell identities emerge from animal gene regulatory mechanisms
Grishechkin, Anton
Mukherjee, Abhirup
Karin, Omer
Cell Behavior
Molecular Networks
The hierarchical organisation of cell identity is a fundamental feature of animal development with rich and well-characterized experimental phenomenology, yet the mechanisms driving its emergence remain unknown. The regulation of cell identity genes relies on a distinct mechanism involving higher-order interactions of transcription factors on distant regulatory regions called enhancers. These interactions are mediated by epigenetic regulators that are broadly shared between enhancers. Through the development of a new and predictive mathematical theory on the effects of epigenetic regulator activity on gene network dynamics, we demonstrate that hierarchical identities are essential emergent properties of animal-specific gene regulatory mechanisms. Hierarchical identities arise from the interplay between enhancer competition for epigenetic readers and cooperation through activation of shared transcriptional programs. We show that epigenetic regulatory mechanisms provide the network with self-similar properties that enable multilineage priming and signal-dependent control of progenitor states. The stabilisation of progenitor states is predicted to be controlled by the balance in activities between epigenetic writers and erasers. Our model quantitatively predicts lineage relationships, reconstructs all known blood progenitor states from terminal states, and explains mechanisms of cell identity dysregulation in cancer and the general differentiation effects of histone deacetylase inhibition. We identify non-specific modulation of enhancer competition as a central regulatory axis, with implications for developmental biology, cancer, and differentiation therapy.
title Hierarchical cell identities emerge from animal gene regulatory mechanisms
topic Cell Behavior
Molecular Networks
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.11336