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  • Interrogation of enhancer f...
    Li, Kailong; Liu, Yuxuan; Cao, Hui; Zhang, Yuannyu; Gu, Zhimin; Liu, Xin; Yu, Andy; Kaphle, Pranita; Dickerson, Kathryn E; Ni, Min; Xu, Jian

    Nature communications, 01/2020, Volume: 11, Issue: 1
    Journal Article

    Tissue-specific gene expression requires coordinated control of gene-proximal and -distal cis-regulatory elements (CREs), yet functional analysis of gene-distal CREs such as enhancers remains challenging. Here we describe CRISPR/dCas9-based enhancer-targeting epigenetic editing systems, enCRISPRa and enCRISPRi, for efficient analysis of enhancer function in situ and in vivo. Using dual effectors capable of re-writing enhancer-associated chromatin modifications, we show that enCRISPRa and enCRISPRi modulate gene transcription by remodeling local epigenetic landscapes at sgRNA-targeted enhancers and associated genes. Comparing with existing methods, the improved systems display more robust perturbations of enhancer activity and gene transcription with minimal off-targets. Allele-specific targeting of enCRISPRa to oncogenic TAL1 super-enhancer modulates TAL1 expression and cancer progression in xenotransplants. Single or multi-loci perturbations of lineage-specific enhancers using an enCRISPRi knock-in mouse establish in vivo evidence for lineage-restricted essentiality of developmental enhancers during hematopoiesis. Hence, enhancer-targeting CRISPR epigenetic editing provides opportunities for interrogating enhancer function in native biological contexts.