[초청강연] 유망과학자 세미나

Speaker: Soohwan Oh, Ph.D. (University of California, San Diego)

Seminar title: Enhancer Activation, Release and Retargeting in Transcription

Abstract: Eukaryotic genome is hierarchically organized and spatially segregated into distinct compartments, ranging from Enhancer-Promoter looping which is cell type-specific, to micrometer scale chromosomal territories, which is largely preserved across multiple cell types in each organism. Enhancer-Promoter looping events have been widely observed and the fine-tuned coordination between enhancers and promoters is a fundamental tenant of gene transcriptional control. Self-associating chromosomal domains known as topologically associated domains (TADs) restrict Enhancer-Promoter contacts and this constraint of functional interactions within TADs seems critical to ensure proper gene regulation.

Here I report interesting findings on how genome organization affects transcription.

1) Estrogen-regulated enhancer and coding gene activation through critical chromatin structure regulators Condensin Complex I and II.

2) Activation of an enhancer via genetic deletion or mutation of gene promoters. Intriguingly, the super-active enhancers switch their promoter target, causing other genes in the same contact domain to be activated, a target switching process that we referred to as “enhancer release and retargeting” (ERR). Integrative analyses of cancer mutations, the ">

3) Observation of Liquid-Liquid phase separation (LLPS) sensitive TAD boundaries and properties of transcriptional units within them.