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. 2020 Jul 6;319(2):G189–G196. doi: 10.1152/ajpgi.00084.2020

Table 1.

Summary of epigenetic regulatory changes in the intestinal epithelium

Epigenomic Feature Intestinal Epithelial Process References
3D chromatin looping TADs are thought to be stable across cell types
Genome-wide 3D chromatin interactions have not been mapped in the intestine
Chromatin accessiblity Generally similar across intestinal epithelial cell populations 37, 40
Secretory cells have specific accessible regions bound to secretory cell-specific TFs 32, 49
These regions lose chromatin accessiblity when secretory cells dedifferentiate into ISCs 32
Histone Modifications
    H3K4me1/2, H3K27ac Overall similar across intestinal cell lineages 37, 40
Differences correlate with dynamic gene expression 69
    H3K27me3 Associated with promoters of silent genes and largely stable across cell types. About 200 ISC-specific genes show increases H3K27me3 levels in differentiated cells 31
Loss of H3K27 methyltransferase activity permits reexpression of developmentally silenced genes, but ISC-specific genes are not reactivated in mature cells. 31
    DNA methylation Majority of enhancers have similar methylation profiles across intestinal epithelial cell types 30, 35
Small differences occur at a subset of cell type-specific genes 58

ISC, intestinal stem cells; TADS, topological associating domains; TFs, transcription factors; 3D, three-dimensional.