Center for Functional Validation and Evaluation of ENCODE Enhancer Regions, Grant Number 5UM1HG009426-03

项目摘要 每个ENCODE功能表征中心的目的是“开发和应用可推广的 描述候选功能元件作用的方法确定了ENCODE项目的具体内容， 生物学背景”。我们提议的中心将专注于候选增强子元件的表征。我们 将开发，完善和应用实验方法的功能测定增强剂。我们将使用两个非常 选择不同的生物模型，因为它们具有很高的潜力，可以作为研究的可推广的范例， 在（i）疾病的遗传风险因素和（ii）癌症中涉及的体细胞突变的背景下，增强子。 我们还将开发和完善我们在ENCODE细胞系中的实验方法，我们将保留25%的 我们努力测试候选基因组元件，这些元件将在所有ENCODE中共同研究。 功能表征中心。使用STARR-seq及其变体，我们将测试 候选增强子元件以调节基因表达。使用CRISPR-Cas9方法，我们将编辑 人类基因组，测试候选增强子元件在其内源性环境中的必要性。我们将 利用这些方法来检查遗传DNA变异对增强子功能的影响， 冠状动脉疾病（CAD），并检查获得性体细胞DNA突变对增强子 在胰腺癌模型（胰腺导管腺癌- PDAC）中的功能。虽然我们的方法 必须要求生物信息学部分利用ENCODE和其他现有数据集， 定义最佳候选增强子元件，用于在我们将测定的特定生物模型中进行测试， 中心将专注于增强剂的实验表征，测试不同的组合， 方法，以便创建可扩展和可推广的协议， 增强子功能的表征。

Project Summary The purpose of each ENCODE Functional Characterization Center is “to develop and apply generalizable approaches to characterize the role of candidate functional elements identified the ENCODE project in specific biological contexts”. Our proposed Center will focus on characterization of candidate enhancer elements. We will develop, refine and apply experimental methods for functional assays of enhancers. We will use two very different biological models chosen for their high potential to act as generalizable exemplars for the study of enhancers in the context of (i) inherited risk factors for disease, and (ii) somatic mutations involved in cancers. We will also develop and refine our experimental methods in ENCODE cell lines, and we will reserve 25% of our efforts for testing candidate genomic elements that will be studied in common across all of the ENCODE Functional Characterization Centers. Using STARR-seq, and variations thereof, we will test for sufficiency of candidate enhancer elements to modulate gene expression. Using CRISPR-Cas9 methods we will edit the human genome, testing for necessity of candidate enhancer elements in their endogenous context. We will utilize these methods to examine the effects of inherited DNA variation on enhancer function in models of coronary artery disease (CAD), and to examine the effects of acquired somatic DNA mutations on enhancer function in models of pancreatic cancer (Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma – PDAC). While our approach necessarily requires a bioinformatics component to utilize ENCODE and other existing data sets in order to define the best candidate enhancer elements for testing in the specific biological models we will assay, our Center will be focused on experimental characterization of enhancers, testing different combinations of approaches in order to create extensible and generalizable protocols for systematic and accurate characterization of enhancer function.