CTCF mediates the cis-regulatory hubs in mouse hearts

ABSTRACT The 3D chromatin architecture establishes a complex network of genes and regulatory elements necessary for transcriptomic regulation in development and disease. This network can be modelled by cis-regulatory hubs (CRH), which underscore the local functional interactions between enhancers and promoter regions and differ from other higher-order chromatin structures such as topologically associated domains (TAD). The Activity-by-contact (ABC) model of enhancer-promoter regulation has been recently used in the identification of these CRHs, but little is known about the role of CTCF on the ABC scores and the consequent impact on CRHs. Here we show that the loss of CTCF leads to a reorganization of the ABC-derived rankings of the putative enhancers in the mouse heart, a global reduction of the total number of CRHs and an increase in the size of the CRHs. Furthermore, CTCF loss leads to a higher percentage of CRHs that cross TAD boundaries. These results provide another layer of evidence to support the importance of CTCF in the formation of regulatory networks necessary for gene regulation. Summary Deletion of CTCF in mouse cardiomyocytes led to reorganization of the activity-by-contact scores of the heart enhancers and changes in the cis-regulatory hubs