Skip to main content
eLife logoLink to eLife
. 2021 Feb 5;10:e59067. doi: 10.7554/eLife.59067

Pancreatic progenitor epigenome maps prioritize type 2 diabetes risk genes with roles in development

Ryan J Geusz 1,2,3,4,, Allen Wang 1,2,3,, Joshua Chiou 1,4,, Joseph J Lancman 5,6,, Nichole Wetton 1,2,3, Samy Kefalopoulou 1,2,3, Jinzhao Wang 1,2,3, Yunjiang Qiu 2, Jian Yan 2, Anthony Aylward 1, Bing Ren 2,7, P Duc Si Dong 5,6, Kyle J Gaulton 1,, Maike Sander 1,2,3,
Editors: Mone Zaidi8, Matthias Barton9
PMCID: PMC7864636  PMID: 33544077

Abstract

Genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk affect gene regulation in metabolically relevant tissues, such as pancreatic islets. Here, we investigated contributions of regulatory programs active during pancreatic development to T2D risk. Generation of chromatin maps from developmental precursors throughout pancreatic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) identifies enrichment of T2D variants in pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers that are not active in islets. Genes associated with progenitor-specific stretch enhancers are predicted to regulate developmental processes, most notably tissue morphogenesis. Through gene editing in hESCs, we demonstrate that progenitor-specific enhancers harboring T2D-associated variants regulate cell polarity genes LAMA1 and CRB2. Knockdown of lama1 or crb2 in zebrafish embryos causes a defect in pancreas morphogenesis and impairs islet cell development. Together, our findings reveal that a subset of T2D risk variants specifically affects pancreatic developmental programs, suggesting that dysregulation of developmental processes can predispose to T2D.

Research organism: Human, Zebrafish

Introduction

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a multifactorial metabolic disorder characterized by insulin insensitivity and insufficient insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells (Halban et al., 2014). Genetic association studies have identified hundreds of loci influencing risk of T2D (Mahajan et al., 2018). However, disease-relevant target genes of T2D risk variants, the mechanisms by which these genes cause disease, and the tissues in which the genes mediate their effects remain poorly understood.

The majority of T2D risk variants map to non-coding sequence, suggesting that genetic risk of T2D is largely mediated through variants affecting transcriptional regulatory activity. Intersection of T2D risk variants with epigenomic data has uncovered enrichment of T2D risk variants in regulatory sites active in specific cell types, predominantly in pancreatic beta cells, including risk variants that affect regulatory activity directly (Chiou et al., 2019; Fuchsberger et al., 2016; Gaulton et al., 2015; Gaulton et al., 2010; Greenwald et al., 2019; Mahajan et al., 2018; Parker et al., 2013; Pasquali et al., 2014; Thurner et al., 2018; Varshney et al., 2017). T2D risk-associated variants are further enriched within large, contiguous regions of islet active chromatin, referred to as stretch or super-enhancers (Parker et al., 2013). These regions of active chromatin preferentially bind islet-cell-restricted transcription factors and drive islet-specific gene expression (Parker et al., 2013; Pasquali et al., 2014).

Many genes associated with T2D risk in islets are not uniquely expressed in differentiated islet endocrine cells, but also in pancreatic progenitor cells during embryonic development. For example, T2D risk variants map to HNF1A, HNF1B, HNF4A, MNX1, NEUROG3, PAX4, and PDX1 (Flannick et al., 2019; Mahajan et al., 2018; Steinthorsdottir et al., 2014), which are all transcription factors also expressed in pancreatic developmental precursors. Studies in model organisms and hESC-based models of pancreatic endocrine cell differentiation have shown that inactivation of these transcription factors causes defects in endocrine cell development, resulting in reduced beta cell numbers (Gaertner et al., 2019). Furthermore, heterozygous mutations for HNF1A, HNF1B, HNF4A, PAX4, and PDX1 are associated with maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY), which is an autosomal dominant form of diabetes with features similar to T2D (Urakami, 2019). Thus, there is evidence that reduced activity of developmentally expressed transcription factors can cause diabetes later in life.

The role of these transcription factors in T2D and MODY could be explained by their functions in regulating gene expression in mature islet cells. However, it is also possible that their function during endocrine cell development could predispose to diabetes instead of, or in addition to, endocrine cell gene regulation. One conceivable mechanism is that individuals with reduced activity of these transcription factors are born with either fewer beta cells or beta cells more prone to fail under conditions of increased insulin demand. Observations showing that disturbed intrauterine metabolic conditions, such as maternal malnutrition, can lead to reduced beta cell mass and T2D predisposition in the offspring (Lumey et al., 2015; Nielsen et al., 2014; Portha et al., 2011) support the concept that compromised beta cell development could predispose to T2D. However, whether there is T2D genetic risk relevant to the regulation of endocrine cell development independent of gene regulation in mature islet cells has not been explored.

In this study, we investigated the contribution of gene regulatory programs specifically active during pancreatic development to T2D risk. First, we employed a hESC-based differentiation system to generate chromatin maps of hESCs during their stepwise differentiation into pancreatic progenitor cells. We then identified T2D-associated variants localized in active enhancers in developmental precursors but not in mature islets, used genome editing in hESCs to define target genes of pancreatic progenitor-specific enhancers harboring T2D variants, and employed zebrafish genetic models to study the role of two target genes in pancreatic and endocrine cell development.

Results

Pancreatic progenitor stretch enhancers are enriched for T2D risk variants

To determine whether there is a development-specific genetic contribution to T2D risk, we generated genome-wide chromatin maps of hESCs during their stepwise differentiation into pancreatic progenitors through four distinct developmental stages: definitive endoderm (DE), gut tube (GT), early pancreatic progenitors (PP1), and late pancreatic progenitors (PP2) (Figure 1A). We then used ChromHMM (Ernst and Kellis, 2012) to annotate chromatin states, such as active promoters and enhancers, at all stages of hESC differentiation as well as in primary islets (Figure 1—figure supplement 1A,B).

Figure 1. T2D-associated risk variants are enriched in stretch enhancers of pancreatic progenitors independent of islet stretch enhancers.

(A) Schematic illustrating the stepwise differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hES) into pancreatic progenitors (solid arrows) and lineage relationship to islets (dotted arrow). Developmental intermediates include definitive endoderm (DE), gut tube (GT), early pancreatic progenitor (PP1), and late pancreatic progenitor (PP2) cells. (B) Box plots depicting length of typical enhancers (TE) and stretch enhancers (SE) at each developmental stage and in primary human islets. Plots are centered on median, with box encompassing 25–75th percentile and whiskers extending up to 1.5 interquartile range. Total numbers of enhancers are shown above each box plot. (C) Examples of stretch enhancers (denoted with red boxes) near the genes encoding the pancreatic lineage-determining transcription factors NKX6.1 and PDX1, respectively. Chromatin states are based on ChromHMM classifications: TssA, active promoter; TssFlnk, flanking transcription start site; TssBiv, bivalent promoter; Repr, repressed; EnhA, active enhancer; EnhP, poised enhancer. (D) Percentage of TE and SE overlapping with at least one ATAC-seq peak at PP2 or in islets. Enrichment analysis comparing observed and expected overlap based on random genomic regions of the same size and located on the same chromosome averaged over 10,000 iterations (***p<1 × 10−4; permutation test). ATAC-seq peaks were merged from two independent differentiations for PP2 stage cells and four donors for primary islets. (E) Genome-wide enrichment of T2D-associated variants (minor allele frequency >0.0025) in stretch enhancers, ATAC-seq peaks, and ATAC-seq peaks within stretch enhancers for all developmental stages when modeling each annotation separately. Points and lines represent log-scaled enrichment estimates and 95% confidence intervals from functional genome wide association analysis (fgwas), respectively. ATAC-seq peaks were merged from two independent differentiations for ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2 stage cells and from four donors for primary islets. (F) Genome-wide enrichment of T2D-associated variants (minor allele frequency >0.0025) in ATAC-seq peaks within stretch enhancers for all developmental stages and coding exons when considering all annotations in a joint model. Points and lines represent log-scaled enrichment estimates and 95% confidence intervals from fgwas, respectively. ATAC-seq peaks were merged from two independent differentiations for ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2 stage cells and from four donors for primary islets. See also Figure 1—figure supplement 1.

Figure 1.

Figure 1—figure supplement 1. Characterization of typical and stretch enhancers in pancreatic developmental intermediates and islets.

Figure 1—figure supplement 1.

(A) Diagram illustrating incorporation of histone modification and CTCF ChIP-seq data to generate chromatin state calls via ChromHMM. (B) Percentage of the genome covered by defined chromatin states at each developmental stage and in primary human islets. Chromatin states are based on ChromHMM classifications: TssA, active promoter; TssFlnk, flanking transcription start site; TssBiv, bivalent promoter; Repr, repressed; EnhA, active enhancer; EnhP, poised enhancer. (C) Percentage of typical (TE) and stretch enhancers (SE) relative to all enhancers at each developmental stage and in islets. (D) Box plots showing mRNA levels based on RNA-seq of nearest expressed genes (fragments per kilobase per million fragments mapped (FPKM) ≥1) for TE and SE at each developmental stage and in islets (***p=4.68 × 10−7, 4.64 × 10−11, 1.31 × 10−5, 8.85 × 10−9, 5.34 × 10−6, and <2.2 × 10−16 for TE vs SE comparisons in ES, DE, GT, PP1, PP2, and islets, respectively; Wilcoxon rank sum test, two sided). Plots are centered on median, with box encompassing 25-75th percentile and whiskers extending up to 1.5 interquartile range. n = 3 replicates from independent differentiations at ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2, respectively; n = 3 islet replicates. (E) Percentage of TE and SE overlapping with at least one ATAC-seq peak in ES, DE, GT, or PP1. Enrichment analysis comparing observed and expected overlap based on random genomic regions of the same size and located on the same chromosome averaged over 10,000 iterations (***p<1 × 10−4; permutation test). ATAC-seq peaks were merged from two independent differentiations. (F) Percentage of TE and SE overlapping 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4+ ATAC-seq peaks at each developmental stage and in islets. ATAC-seq peaks were merged from two independent differentiations for ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2 stage cells and from four donors for primary islets.

Large and contiguous regions of active enhancer chromatin, which have been termed stretch- or super-enhancers (Parker et al., 2013; Whyte et al., 2013), are highly enriched for T2D risk variants in islets (Parker et al., 2013; Pasquali et al., 2014). We therefore partitioned active enhancers from each hESC developmental stage and islets into stretch enhancers (SE) and traditional (non-stretch) enhancers (TE) (Figure 1B). Consistent with prior observations of SE features (Parker et al., 2013; Whyte et al., 2013), SE comprised a small subset of all active enhancers (7.7%, 7.8%, 8.8%, 8.1%, 8.1%, and 10.4% of active enhancers in ES, DE, GT, PP1, PP2, and islets, respectively; Figure 1B and Figure 1—figure supplement 1C) and genes proximal to SE were more highly expressed than genes proximal to TE (p=4.68 × 10−7, 4.64 × 10−11, 1.31 × 10−5, 8.85 × 10−9, 5.34 × 10−6, and <2.2 × 10−16 for expression of genes near TE vs SE in ES, DE, GT, PP1, PP2, and islets, respectively; Figure 1—figure supplement 1D). Genes near SE in pancreatic progenitors included transcription factors involved in the regulation of pancreatic cell identity, such as NKX6.1 and PDX1 (Figure 1C). Since disease-associated variants are preferentially enriched in narrow peaks of accessible chromatin within broader regions of active chromatin (Greenwald et al., 2019; Thurner et al., 2018; Varshney et al., 2017), we next used ATAC-seq to generate genome-wide maps of chromatin accessibility across all time points of differentiation. Nearly all identified SE contained at least one ATAC-seq peak (Figure 1D and Figure 1—figure supplement 1E,F). At the PP2 stage, 62.3% of SE harbored one, 32.2% two or three, and 0.7% four or more ATAC-seq peaks (Figure 1—figure supplement 1F). Similar percentages were observed in earlier developmental precursors and islets.

Having annotated accessible chromatin sites within SE, we next tested for enrichment of T2D-associated variants in SE active in mature islets and in pancreatic developmental stages. We observed strongest enrichment of T2D-associated variants in islet SE (log enrichment = 2.18, 95% CI = 1.80, 2.54) and late pancreatic progenitor SE (log enrichment = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.40, 2.74), which was more pronounced when only considering variants in accessible chromatin sites within these elements (islet log enrichment = 3.20, 95% CI = 2.74, 3.60; PP2 log enrichment = 3.18, 95% CI = 2.35, 3.79; Figure 1E). Given that a subset of pancreatic progenitor SE is also active in islets, we next determined whether pancreatic progenitor SE contribute to T2D risk independently of islet SE. Variants in accessible chromatin sites of late pancreatic progenitor SE were enriched for T2D association in a joint model including islet SE (islet log enrichment = 2.94, 95% CI = 2.47, 3.35; PP2 log enrichment = 1.27, 95% CI = 0.24, 2.00; Figure 1F). We also observed enrichment of variants in accessible chromatin sites of pancreatic progenitor SE after conditioning on islet SE (log enrichment = 0.60, 95% CI = −0.87, 1.48), as well as when excluding pancreatic progenitor SE active in islets (log enrichment = 1.62, 95% CI = <-20, 3.14). Examples of known T2D loci with T2D-associated variants in SE active in pancreatic progenitors but not in islets included LAMA1 and PROX1. These results suggest that a subset of T2D variants may affect disease risk by altering regulatory programs specifically active in pancreatic progenitors.

Pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers are near genes that regulate tissue morphogenesis

Having observed enrichment of T2D risk variants in pancreatic progenitor SE independent of islet SE, we next sought to further characterize the regulatory programs of SE with specific function in pancreatic progenitors. We therefore defined a set of pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers (PSSE) based on the following criteria: (i) annotation as a SE at the PP2 stage, (ii) no classification as a SE at the ES, DE, and GT stages, and (iii) no classification as a TE or SE in islets. Applying these criteria, we identified a total of 492 PSSE genome-wide (Figure 2A and Figure 2—source data 1).

Figure 2. Candidate target genes of pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers regulate developmental processes.

(A) Schematic illustrating identification of pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers (PSSE). (B) Heatmap showing density of H3K27ac ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq reads at PSSE, centered on overlapping H3K27ac and ATAC-seq peaks, respectively, and spanning 5 kb in ES, DE, GT, PP1, PP2, and islets. PSSE coordinates in Figure 2—source data 1. (C) Percentage of PSSE exhibiting indicated chromatin states at defined developmental stages and in islets. (D) Percentage of PSSE overlapping with at least one ChIP-seq peak at PP2 for the indicated transcription factors. Enrichment analysis comparing observed and expected overlap based on random genomic regions of the same size and located on the same chromosome averaged over 10,000 iterations (***p<1×10−4; permutation test). (E) Gene ontology analysis for nearest expressed genes (fragments per kilobase per million fragments mapped (FPKM) ≥1 at PP2) to the 492 PSSE. See also Figure 2—source data 2. (F) Enrichment (LD score regression coefficient z-scores) of T2D, developmental, and metabolic GWAS trait-associated variants at accessible chromatin sites in PSSE as compared with PP2 and islet stretch enhancers. Significant enrichment was identified within accessible chromatin at PP2 stretch enhancers for lean type 2 diabetes (Z = 2.06, *p=3.94 × 10−2), at PP2 stretch enhancers for type 2 diabetes (Z = 3.57, ***p=3.52 × 10−4), at islet stretch enhancers for type 2 diabetes (Z = 2.78, **p=5.46 × 10−3), at islet stretch enhancers for fasting proinsulin levels (Z = 2.83, **p=4.61 × 10−3), at islet stretch enhancers for HOMA-B (Z = 2.58, **p=9.85 × 10−3), at PP2 stretch enhancers for disposition index (Z = 2.18, *p=2.94 × 10−2), at islet stretch enhancers for acute insulin response (Z = 2.24, *p=2.51 × 10−2), at islet stretch enhancers for HbA1c (Z = 1.98, *p=4.72 × 10−2), and at islet stretch enhancers for fasting glucose levels (Z = 2.64, **p=8.31 × 10−3). See also Figure 2—source data 3 and Figure 2—figure supplement 1.

Figure 2—source data 1. Chromosomal coordinates of pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers (PSSE).
Figure 2—source data 2. Enriched gene ontology terms for PSSE-associated genes.
Figure 2—source data 3. Proportion of variants nominally associated with beta cell functional traits.
Figure 2—source data 4. Tissue identity of downloaded data from ROADMAP consortium.

Figure 2.

Figure 2—figure supplement 1. Characterization of pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers.

Figure 2—figure supplement 1.

(A) Percentage of PSSE overlapping with at least one ATAC-seq peak at PP2. Enrichment analysis comparing observed and expected overlap based on random genomic regions of the same size and located on the same chromosome averaged over 10,000 iterations (***p<1 × 10−4; permutation test). (B) Percentage of PSSE overlapping 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4+ ATAC-seq peaks at PP2. (C) Enriched transcription factor (TF) binding motifs with associated p-values at ATAC-seq peaks at PP2 intersecting PSSE. Fisher’s exact test, two sided, corrected for multiple comparisons. (D) Box plots showing mRNA levels based on RNA-seq of nearest expressed genes (fragments per kilobase per million fragments mapped (FPKM) ≥1 at PP2) for PSSE at each developmental stage and in islets (*p=1.10 × 10−2 for GT vs PP1; ***p=1.80 × 10−8 for GT vs PP2, p<2.2 × 10−16 for PP2 vs islet; Wilcoxon rank sum test, two sided). Plots are centered on median, with box encompassing 25-75th percentile and whiskers extending up to 1.5 interquartile range. n = 3 replicates from independent differentiations at ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2, respectively; n = 3 islet replicates. (E) Box plots showing H3K27ac signal at PSSE in tissues and cell lines from the ENCODE and Epigenome Roadmap projects as well as in developmental intermediates and islets (ISL). Plots are centered on median, with box encompassing 25-75th percentile and whiskers extending up to 1.5 interquartile range. See also Figure 2—source data 4. (F) Number of PSSE overlapping defined chromatin states in human adipose stromal cells from preadipose (hASC1) to mature adipose state (hASC4) (from Varshney et al., 2017). ChromHMM classifications: Quiescent; ReprPCWk, Weak Repressed PolyComb; TxWk, Weak Transcription; Tx, Strong Transcription; EnhWk, Weak Enhancer; ReprPC, Repressed Polycomb; EnhA1, Active Enhancer 1; EnhG, Genic Enhancer; EnhA2, Active Enhancer 2.

As expected based on their chromatin state classification, PSSE acquired broad deposition of the active enhancer mark H3K27ac at the PP1 and PP2 stages (Figure 2B,C). Coincident with an increase in H3K27ac signal, chromatin accessibility at PSSE also increased (Figure 2B), and 93.5% of PSSE contained at least one accessible chromatin site at the PP2 stage (Figure 2—figure supplement 1A,B). Further investigation of PSSE chromatin state dynamics at earlier stages of pancreatic differentiation revealed that PSSE were often poised (defined by H3K4me1 in the absence of H3K27ac) prior to activation (42%, 48%, 63%, and 17% of PSSE in ES, DE, GT, and PP1, respectively; Figure 2C), consistent with earlier observations that a poised enhancer state frequently precedes enhancer activation during development (Rada-Iglesias et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2015). Intriguingly, a subset of PSSE was classified as TE earlier in development (13%, 23%, 29%, and 46% of PSSE in ES, DE, GT, and PP1, respectively; Figure 2C), suggesting that SE emerge from smaller regions of active chromatin seeded at prior stages of development. During differentiation into mature islet cells, PSSE lost H3K27ac but largely retained H3K4me1 signal (62% of PSSE) (Figure 2C), persisting in a poised state in terminally differentiated islet cells.

To gain insight into the transcription factors that regulate PSSE, we conducted motif enrichment analysis of accessible chromatin sites within PSSE (Figure 2—figure supplement 1C). Consistent with the activation of PSSE upon pancreas induction, motifs associated with transcription factors known to regulate pancreatic development (Conrad et al., 2014; Masui et al., 2007) were enriched, including FOXA (p=1 × 10−34), PDX1 (p=1 × 10−30), GATA (p=1 × 10−25), ONECUT (p=1 × 10−17), and RBPJ (p=1 × 10−14), suggesting that pancreatic lineage-determining transcription factors activate PSSE. Analysis of the extent of PSSE overlap with ChIP-seq binding sites for FOXA1, FOXA2, GATA4, GATA6, PDX1, HNF6, and SOX9 at the PP2 stage substantiated this prediction (p<1 × 10−4 for all transcription factors; permutation test; Figure 2D).

Annotation of biological functions of predicted target genes for PSSE (nearest gene with FPKM ≥1 at PP2 stage) revealed gene ontology terms related to developmental processes, such as tissue morphogenesis (p=1 × 10−7) and vascular development (p=1 × 10−8), as well as developmental signaling pathways, including BMP (p=1 × 10−5), NOTCH (p=1 × 10−4), and canonical Wnt signaling (p=1 × 10−4; Figure 2E and Figure 2—source data 2), which have demonstrated roles in pancreas morphogenesis and cell lineage allocation (Ahnfelt-Rønne et al., 2010; Li et al., 2015; Murtaugh, 2008; Sharon et al., 2019; Sui et al., 2013). Consistent with the temporal pattern of H3K27ac deposition at PSSE, transcript levels of PSSE-associated genes increased upon pancreatic lineage induction and peaked at the PP2 stage (p=1.8 × 10−8; Figure 2—figure supplement 1D). Notably, expression of these genes sharply decreased in islets (p<2.2 × 10−16), underscoring the likely role of these genes in regulating pancreatic development but not mature islet function.

Pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers are highly specific across T2D-relevant tissues and cell types

We next sought to understand the phenotypic consequences of PSSE activity in the context of T2D pathophysiology. Variants in accessible chromatin sites of PSSE genome-wide were enriched for T2D association (log enrichment = 2.85, 95% CI = <-20, 4.09). We determined enrichment of genetic variants for T2D-related quantitative endophenotypes within accessible chromatin sites of PSSE, as well as all pancreatic progenitor SE (not just progenitor-specific) and islet SE, using LD score regression (Bulik-Sullivan et al., 2015; Finucane et al., 2015). As expected based on prior observations (Parker et al., 2013; Pasquali et al., 2014), we observed enrichment (Z > 1.96) of variants associated with quantitative traits related to insulin secretion and beta cell function within islet SE, exemplified by fasting proinsulin levels, HOMA-B, and acute insulin response (Z = 2.8, Z = 2.6, and Z = 2.2, respectively; Figure 2F). Conversely, PSSE showed a trend toward depletion for these traits, although the estimates were not significant. We further tested for enrichment in the proportion of variants in PSSE and islet SE nominally associated (p<0.05) with beta cell function traits compared to background variants. There was significant enrichment of beta cell trait association among islet SE variants (χ2 test; p<0.05 for all beta cell functional traits except for insulin secretion rate), but no corresponding enrichment for PSSE (Figure 2—source data 3).

A prior study found that variants at the LAMA1 locus had stronger effects on T2D risk among lean relative to obese cases (Perry et al., 2012). Since we identified a PSSE at the LAMA1 locus, we postulated that variants in PSSE collectively might have differing impact on T2D risk in cases segregated by BMI. We therefore tested PSSE, as well as pancreatic progenitor SE and islet SE, for enrichment of T2D association using GWAS of lean and obese T2D (Perry et al., 2012), using LD score regression (Bulik-Sullivan et al., 2015; Finucane et al., 2015). We observed nominally significant enrichment of variants in pancreatic progenitor SE for T2D among lean cases (Z = 2.1). Variants in PSSE were mildly enriched for T2D among lean (Z = 1.1) and depleted among obese (Z = −0.70) cases, although neither estimate was significant. By comparison, islet SE showed positive enrichment for T2D among both lean (Z = 1.9) and obese cases (Z = 1.3; Figure 2F). Together, these results suggest that PSSE may affect T2D risk in a manner distinct from islet SE function.

Having observed little evidence for enrichment of PSSE variants for traits related to beta cell function, we asked whether the enrichment of PSSE for T2D-associated variants could be explained by PSSE activity in T2D-relevant tissues and cell types outside the pancreas. We assessed PSSE activity by measuring H3K27ac signal in 95 representative tissues and cell lines from the ENCODE and Epigenome Roadmap projects (Kundaje et al., 2015). Interestingly, there was group-wide specificity of PSSE to pancreatic progenitors relative to other cells and tissues including those relevant to T2D, such as adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and liver (Figure 2—figure supplement 1E and Figure 2—source data 4). Since gene regulation in adipocyte precursors also contributes to T2D risk (Claussnitzer et al., 2014), we further examined PSSE specificity with respect to chromatin states during adipogenesis, using data from human adipose stromal cell differentiation stages (hASC1-4) (Mikkelsen et al., 2010; Varshney et al., 2017). PSSE exhibited virtually no active chromatin during adipogenesis (9, 8, 6, and 8 out of the 492 PSSE were active enhancers in hACS-1, hASC-2, hASC-3, and hASC-4, respectively; Figure 2—figure supplement 1F). These findings identify PSSE as highly pancreatic progenitor-specific across T2D-relevant tissues and cell types.

Identification of pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers harboring T2D-associated variants

Given the relative specificity of PSSE to pancreatic progenitors, we next sought to identify T2D-associated variants in PSSE at specific loci which may affect pancreatic development. We therefore identified variants in PSSE with evidence of T2D association (at p=4.7 × 10−6) after correcting for the total number of variants in PSSE genome-wide (n = 10,738). In total there were 49 variants in PSSE with T2D association exceeding this threshold mapping to 11 loci (Figure 3A). This included variants at nine loci with known genome-wide significant T2D association (PROX1, ST6GAL1, SMARCAD1, XKR6, INS-IGF2, HMGA2, SMEK1, HMG20A, and LAMA1), as well as at two previously unreported loci with sub-genome-wide significant association, CRB2 and PGM1. To identify candidate target genes of the T2D-associated PSSE in pancreatic progenitors, we analyzed the expression of all genes within the same topologically associated domain (TAD) as the PSSE in PP2 cells and in primary human embryonic pancreas tissue (Figure 3B and Figure 3—figure supplement 1A). These expressed genes are candidate effector transcripts of T2D-associated variants in pancreatic progenitors.

Figure 3. Identification of T2D risk variants associated with pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers.

(A) Manhattan plot showing T2D association p-values (from Mahajan et al., 2018) for 10,738 variants mapping within PSSE. The dotted line shows the threshold for Bonferroni correction (p=4.66 × 10−6). Novel loci identified with this threshold and mapping at least 500 kb away from a known locus are highlighted in blue. Chromosomal coordinates of T2D-associated PSSE are indicated. (B) mRNA levels (measured in fragments per kilobase per million fragments mapped [FPKM]) at PP2 (blue) and in human embryonic pancreas (54 and 58 days gestation, gold) of nearest expressed (FPMK ≥1) gene at PP2 for PSSE harboring T2D variants identified in A. (C) PP2 specificity of H3K27ac signal at PSSE harboring T2D variants identified in A. Z-score comparing H3K27ac signal at PP2 to H3K27ac signal in tissues and cell lines from the ENCODE and Epigenome Roadmap projects. See also Figure 3—figure supplement 1.

Figure 3.

Figure 3—figure supplement 1. Activity of T2D risk-associated pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers across human tissues.

Figure 3—figure supplement 1.

(A) mRNA levels (measured in fragments per kilobase per million fragments mapped [FPKM]) at PP2 and in human embryonic pancreas (54 and 58 days gestation, Emb Pan) of all genes expressed (FPKM ≥1) at PP2 and located within topologically associated domains (TADs) containing indicated PSSE harboring T2D variants identified in Figure 3A. (B) Heatmap showing H3K27ac signal at PSSE harboring T2D variants identified in Figure 3A. Quantification in tissues and cell lines from the ENCODE and Epigenome Roadmap projects (tissues) as well as in developmental intermediates and islets (ISL) is shown. (C) H3K27ac signal at LAMA1-associated PSSE in tissues and cell lines from the ENCODE and Epigenome Roadmap projects as well as in developmental intermediates and islets.

As many pancreatic progenitor SE remain poised in mature islets (Figure 2C), we considered whether T2D-associated variants in PSSE could have gene regulatory function in islets that is re-activated in the disease state. We therefore assessed overlap of PSSE variants with accessible chromatin of islets from T2D donors (Khetan et al., 2018). None of the strongly T2D-associated variants in PSSE (p=4.7 × 10−6) overlapped an islet accessible chromatin site in T2D islets, arguing against the relevance of PSSE in broadly regulating islet gene activity during T2D.

A pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancer at LAMA1 harbors T2D risk variants and regulates LAMA1 expression selectively in pancreatic progenitors

Variants in a PSSE at the LAMA1 locus were associated with T2D at genome-wide significance (Figure 3A), and LAMA1 was highly expressed in the human embryonic pancreas (Figure 3B). Furthermore, the activity of the PSSE at the LAMA1 locus was almost exclusively restricted to pancreatic progenitors (Figure 3—figure supplement 1B,C), and was further among the most progenitor-specific across all PSSE harboring T2D risk variants (Figure 3C). In addition, reporter gene assays in zebrafish embryos have shown that this enhancer drives gene expression specific to pancreatic progenitors in vivo (Cebola et al., 2015). We therefore postulated that the activity of T2D-associated variants within the LAMA1 PSSE is relevant for gene regulation in pancreatic progenitors, and we sought to characterize the LAMA1 PSSE in greater depth.

Multiple T2D-associated variants mapped within the LAMA1 PSSE, and these variants were further in the 99% credible set in fine-mapping data from the DIAMANTE consortium (Mahajan et al., 2018; Figure 4A). No other variants in the 99% credible set mapped in an accessible chromatin site active in islets from either non-diabetic or T2D samples. The PSSE is intronic to the LAMA1 gene and contains regions of poised chromatin and TE at prior developmental stages (Figure 4A). Consistent with its stepwise genesis as a SE throughout development, regions of open chromatin within the LAMA1 PSSE were already present at the DE and GT stages. Furthermore, pancreatic lineage-determining transcription factors, such as FOXA1, FOXA2, GATA4, GATA6, HNF6, SOX9, and PDX1, were all bound to the PSSE at the PP2 stage (Figure 4B). Among credible set variants in the LAMA1 PSSE, rs10502347 overlapped an ATAC-seq peak as well as ChIP-seq sites for multiple pancreatic lineage-determining transcription factors. Additionally, rs10502347 directly coincided with a SOX9 footprint identified in ATAC-seq data from PP2 cells, and the T2D risk allele C is predicted to disrupt SOX9 binding (Figure 4B). Consistent with the collective endophenotype association patterns of PSSE (Figure 2F), rs10502347 showed no association with beta cell function (p=0.81, 0.23, 0.46 for fasting proinsulin levels, HOMA-B, and acute insulin response, respectively; Figure 4—figure supplement 1A). Thus, T2D variant rs10502347 is predicted to affect the binding of pancreatic transcription factors and does not appear to affect beta cell function.

Figure 4. A T2D risk-associated LAMA1 pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancer regulates LAMA1 expression specifically in pancreatic progenitors.

(A) (Top) Locus plots showing T2D association p-values for variants in a 35 kb window (hg19 chr18:7,050,000–7,085,000) at the LAMA1 locus and LAMA1 PSSE (red box). Fine mapped variants within the 99% credible set for the LAMA1 locus are colored black. All other variants are colored light gray. (Bottom) Chromatin states and ATAC-seq signal in ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2. TssA, active promoter; TssFlnk, flanking transcription start site; TssBiv, bivalent promoter; Repr, repressed; EnhA, active enhancer; EnhP, poised enhancer. (B) FOXA1, FOXA2, GATA4, GATA6, HNF6, SOX9, and PDX1 ChIP-seq profiles at the LAMA1 PSSE in PP2. The variant rs10502347 (red) overlaps transcription factor binding sites and a predicted ATAC-seq footprint for the SOX9 sequence motif. Purple dotted lines indicate the core binding profile of the average SOX9 footprint genome-wide and the blue dotted line indicates the position of rs10502347 within the SOX9 motif. (C) LAMA1 mRNA expression at each developmental stage determined by RNA-seq, measured in fragments per kilobase per million fragments mapped (FPKM). Data shown as mean ± S.E.M. (n = 3 replicates from independent differentiations). Light blue and purple indicate classification of the LAMA1 PSSE as typical enhancer (TE) and stretch enhancer (SE), respectively. (D) LAMA1 mRNA expression at each developmental stage determined by qPCR in control and ∆LAMA1Enh cells. Data are shown as mean ± S.E.M. (n = 3 replicates from independent differentiations for control cells. ∆LAMA1Enh cells represent combined data from two clonal lines with three replicates for each line from independent differentiations. n = 3 technical replicates for each sample; p=0.319, 0.594, 0.945, 0.290, and <1 × 10−6 for comparisons in ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2, respectively; student’s t-test, two sided; ***p<0.001, n.s., not significant). Light blue and purple indicate classification of the LAMA1 PSSE as TE and SE, respectively. Each plotted point represents the average of technical replicates for each differentiation. (E) mRNA expression determined by RNA-seq at PP2 of genes expressed in either control or ∆LAMA1Enh cells (FPKM ≥ 1 at PP2) and located within the same topologically associated domain as LAMA1. Data are shown as mean FPKM ± S.E.M. (n = 2 replicates from independent differentiations for control cells. ∆LAMA1Enh cells represent combined data from two clonal lines with two replicates for each line from independent differentiations. p adj. = 0.389 and 8.11 × 10−3 for ARHGAP28 and LAMA1, respectively; DESeq2). See also Figure 4—figure supplements 1 and 2.

Figure 4—source data 1. Genes downregulated in ∆LAMA1Enh PP2 stage cells compared to control cells (p adj. <0.05).
Figure 4—source data 2. Genes upregulated in ∆LAMA1Enh PP2 stage cells compared to control cells (p adj. <0.05).

Figure 4.

Figure 4—figure supplement 1. Deletion of the LAMA1-associated pancreatic progenitor-specific enhancer does not affect pancreatic lineage specification.

Figure 4—figure supplement 1.

(A) Odds ratio estimates (points) and 95% CIs (lines) for rs10502347 association with T2D and metabolic GWAS traits. Significant associations are colored black, non-significant are colored light grey. (B) Schematic illustrating CRISPR-Cas9-mediated deletion strategy of LAMA1-associated PSSE to generate independent ∆LAMA1Enh hESC clones with different DNA cleavage products. (C) Flow cytometry analysis for NKX6.1 and PDX1 comparing control and ∆LAMA1Enh PP2 cells. Isotype control (ISO) for each antibody is shown in red and target protein staining in green. Percentage of cells expressing each protein is indicated (representative experiment, n = 3 independent differentiations). (D) Immunofluorescent staining for NKX6.1 and PDX1 in control and ∆LAMA1Enh PP2 cells (representative images, n = 2 slides). Scale bar, 50 μm. (E) mRNA expression of pancreatic transcription factors determined by RNA-seq in control and ∆LAMA1Enh PP2 cells. Data are shown as mean of fragments per kilobase per million fragments mapped (FPKM) ± S.E.M. (n = 2 replicates from independent differentiations for control cells. ∆LAMA1Enh cells represent combined data from two clonal lines with two replicates for each line from independent differentiations. p adj. = 3.56 × 10−2, 0.224, 0.829, 8.14 × 10−2, and 0.142, for comparisons of PDX1, NKX6.1, PROX1, PTF1A, and SOX9, respectively; DESeq2; * p adj. <0.05, n.s., not significant). (F) Similarity matrix showing Pearson correlations for normalized transcriptomes (log transformed expression for genes with FPKM ≥1 in ≥1 replicates) in control and ∆LAMA1Enh PP2 cells (n = 2 independent differentiations for control cells and for each ∆LAMA1Enh clone). See also Figure 4—source datas 1 and 2.
Figure 4—figure supplement 2. Deletion of LAMA1 does not affect pancreatic lineage specification.

Figure 4—figure supplement 2.

(A) Schematic illustrating CRISPR-Cas9-mediated deletion strategy of LAMA1 to generate ∆LAMA1 hESC clonal line. (B) Immunofluorescent staining for Laminin in control and ∆LAMA1 PP2 cells (representative images, n = 2 independent slides). Scale bar, 50 μm. (C) Flow cytometry analysis for NKX6.1 and PDX1 comparing control and ∆LAMA1 PP2 cells. Isotype control (ISO) for each antibody is shown in red and target protein staining in green. Percentage of cells expressing each protein is indicated. (D) Immunofluorescent staining for NKX6.1 and PDX1 in control and ∆LAMA1 PP2 cells (representative images, n = 2 independent slides). Scale bar, 50 μm. (E) mRNA expression of pancreatic transcription factors determined by qPCR in control and ∆LAMA1 PP2 cells. Data are shown as mean ± S.E.M. (n = 3 replicates from independent differentiations. n = 3 technical replicates for each sample; p=2.19 × 10−2, 0.360, 6.25 × 10−2, 0.710, and 0.122 for comparisons of PDX1, NKX6.1, PROX1, PTF1A, and SOX9 expression in control compared to ∆LAMA1 PP2 cells, respectively; student’s t-test, two sided; n.s., not significant, *p<0.01). Each plotted point represents the average of technical replicates for each differentiation.

Enhancers can control gene expression over large genomic distances, and therefore their target genes cannot be predicted based on proximity alone. To directly assess the function of the LAMA1 PSSE in regulating gene activity, we utilized CRIPSR-Cas9-mediated genome editing to generate two independent clonal human hESC lines harboring homozygous deletions of the LAMA1 PSSE (hereafter referred to as ∆LAMA1Enh; Figure 4—figure supplement 1B). We examined LAMA1 expression in ∆LAMA1Enh compared to control cells throughout stages of pancreatic differentiation. Consistent with the broad expression of LAMA1 across developmental and mature tissues, control cells expressed LAMA1 at all stages (Figure 4C). LAMA1 was expressed at similar levels in ∆LAMA1Enh and control cells at early developmental stages, but was significantly reduced in PP2 cells derived from ∆LAMA1Enh clones (p=0.319, 0.594, 0.945, 0.290, and <1 × 10−6 for comparisons in ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2, respectively; Figure 4D). To next investigate whether the LAMA1 PSSE regulates other genes at this locus, we utilized Hi-C datasets from PP2 cells to identify topologically associated domains (TADs). We then examined expression of genes mapping in the same TAD as the LAMA1 PSSE. ARHGAP28 was the only other expressed gene within the TAD, and albeit not significantly different from controls (p.adj >0.05), showed a trend toward lower expression in ∆LAMA1Enh PP2 cells (Figure 4E), raising the possibility that ARHGAP28 is an additional target gene of the LAMA1 PSSE. Together, these results demonstrate that while LAMA1 itself is broadly expressed across developmental stages, the T2D-associated PSSE regulates LAMA1 expression specifically in pancreatic progenitors.

To determine whether deletion of the LAMA1 PSSE affects pancreatic development, we generated PP2 stage cells from ∆LAMA1Enh and control hESC lines and analyzed pancreatic cell fate commitment by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence staining for PDX1 and NKX6.1 (Figure 4—figure supplement 1C,D). At the PP2 stage, ∆LAMA1Enh and control cultures contained similar percentages of PDX1- and NKX6.1-positive cells. Furthermore, mRNA expression of PDX1, NKX6.1, PROX1, PTF1A, and SOX9 was either unaffected or only minimally reduced (p adj. = 3.56 × 10−2, 0.224, 0.829, 8.14 × 10−2, and 0.142, for comparisons of PDX1, NKX6.1, PROX1, PTF1A, and SOX9 expression, respectively; Figure 4—figure supplement 1E), and the overall gene expression profiles as determined by RNA-seq were similar in ∆LAMA1Enh and control PP2 cells (Figure 4—figure supplement 1F and Figure 4—source datas 1 and 2). To examine effects of complete LAMA1 loss-of-function, we additionally generated a hESC line harboring a deletion of the LAMA1 coding sequences (hereafter referred to as ∆LAMA1; Figure 4—figure supplement 2A,B), and produced PP2 stage cells. Similar to ∆LAMA1Enh cultures, ∆LAMA1 and control PP2 stage cultures contained similar numbers of PDX1- and NKX6.1-positive cells (Figure 4—figure supplement 2C,D). Likewise, mRNA expression of PDX1, NKX6.1, PROX1, PTF1A, and SOX9 was similar in ∆LAMA1 and control PP2 cells (p=4.3 × 10−2, 0.19, 0.16, 0.17, and 8.7 × 10−2, respectively; Figure 4—figure supplement 2E). These findings indicate that in vitro pancreatic lineage induction is unperturbed in both ∆LAMA1Enh cells exhibiting reduced LAMA1 expression, as well as ∆LAMA1 cells where LAMA1 coding sequences are disrupted.

Pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers at the CRB2 and PGM1 loci harbor T2D-associated variants

Multiple variants with evidence for T2D association in PSSE mapped outside of known risk loci, such as those mapping to CRB2 and PGM1 (Figure 3A). As with the LAMA1 PSSE, PSSE harboring variants at CRB2 and PGM1 were intronic to their respective genes, contained ATAC-seq peaks, and bound pancreatic lineage-determining transcription factors FOXA1, FOXA2, GATA4, GATA6, HNF6, SOX9, and PDX1 (Figure 5A,B and Figure 5—figure supplement 1A,B). Compared to the LAMA1 PSSE, CRB2 and PGM1 PSSE were less specific to pancreatic progenitors and exhibited significant H3K27ac signal in several other tissues and cell types, most notably brain, liver, and the digestive tract (Figure 5—figure supplement 1C,D).

Figure 5. A T2D risk-associated CRB2 pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancer regulates CRB2 expression specifically in pancreatic progenitors.

(A) (Top) Locus plots showing T2D association p-values for variants in a 35 kb window (hg19 chr9:126,112,000–126,147,000) at the CRB2 locus and CRB2 PSSE (red box). Fine mapped variants within the 99% credible set for the novel CRB2 locus are colored black. All other variants are colored light gray. (Bottom) Chromatin states and ATAC-seq signal in ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2. TssA, active promoter; TssFlnk, flanking transcription start site; TssBiv, bivalent promoter; Repr, repressed; EnhA, active enhancer; EnhP, poised enhancer. (B) FOXA1, FOXA2, GATA4, GATA6, HNF6, SOX9, and PDX1 ChIP-seq profiles at the CRB2 PSSE in PP2. The variant rs2491353 (black) overlaps with transcription factor binding sites. (C) CRB2 mRNA expression at each developmental stage determined by RNA-seq, measured in fragments per kilobase per million fragments mapped (FPKM). Data shown as mean ± S.E.M. (n = 3 replicates from independent differentiations). Light blue and purple indicate classification of the CRB2 PSSE as typical enhancer (TE) and stretch enhancer (SE), respectively. Plotted points represent average of technical replicates for each differentiation. (D) CRB2 mRNA expression at each developmental stage determined by qPCR in control and ∆CRB2Enh cells. Data are shown as mean ± S.E.M. (n = 3 replicates from independent differentiations for control cells. ∆CRB2Enh cells represent combined data from two clonal lines with three replicates for each line from independent differentiations. n = 3 technical replicates for each sample; p=7.03 × 10−4,<1 × 10−6,<1 × 10−6, 1.46 × 10−2, and <1 × 10−6 for comparisons in ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2, respectively; student’s t-test, two sided; ***p<0.001 **p<0.01). Light blue and purple indicate classification of the CRB2 PSSE as TE and SE, respectively. Each plotted point represents the average of technical replicates for each differentiation. (E) mRNA expression determined by RNA-seq at PP2 of genes expressed in either control or ∆CRB2Enh cells (FPKM ≥ 1 at PP2) and located within the same topologically associated domain as CRB2. Data are shown as mean FPKM ± S.E.M. (n = 2 replicates from independent differentiations for control cells. ∆CRB2Enh cells represent combined data from two clonal lines with two replicates for each line from independent differentiations. p adj. = 0.158, 1.00, and 3.51 × 10−3, for MIR600HG, STRBP, and CRB2, respectively; DESeq2; **p<0.01, n.s., not significant). See also Figure 5—figure supplements 13.

Figure 5—source data 1. Genes downregulated in ∆CRB2Enh PP2 stage cells compared to control cells (p adj. <0.05).

Figure 5.

Figure 5—figure supplement 1. Activity of CRB2- and PGM1-associated pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers across human tissues.

Figure 5—figure supplement 1.

(A) (Top) Locus plots showing T2D association p-values for variants in a 43 kb window (hg19 chr1:64,084,000–64,127,000) at the PGM1 locus and PGM1 PSSE (red box). Fine mapped variants within the 99% credible set for the novel PGM1 locus are colored black. All other variants are colored light gray. (Bottom) Chromatin states and ATAC-seq signal in ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2. TssA, active promoter; TssFlnk, flanking transcription start site; TssBiv, bivalent promoter; Repr, repressed; EnhA, active enhancer; EnhP, poised enhancer. (B) FOXA1, FOXA2, GATA4, GATA6, HNF6, SOX9, and PDX1 ChIP-seq profiles at the PGM1 PSSE in PP2 cells. The variants rs2269247, rs2301055, rs2301054, and rs2269246 (black) overlap with transcription factor binding sites. (C) H3K27ac signal at CRB2-associated PSSE in tissues and cell lines from the ENCODE and Epigenome Roadmap projects as well as in developmental intermediates and islets (ISL). (D) H3K27ac signal at PGM1-associated PSSE in tissues and cell lines from the ENCODE and Epigenome Roadmap projects as well as in developmental intermediates and islets.
Figure 5—figure supplement 2. Deletion of the CRB2-associated pancreatic progenitor-specific enhancer does not affect pancreatic lineage specification.

Figure 5—figure supplement 2.

(A) Schematic illustrating CRISPR-Cas9-mediated deletion strategy of CRB2-associated PSSE to generate independent ∆CRB2Enh hESC clones with different DNA cleavage products. (B) Flow cytometry analysis for NKX6.1 and PDX1 comparing control and ∆CRB2Enh PP2 cells. Isotype control (ISO) for each antibody is shown in red and target protein staining in green. Percentage of cells expressing each protein is indicated (representative experiment, n = 3 independent differentiations). (C) Immunofluorescent staining for NKX6.1 and PDX1 in control and ∆CRB2Enh PP2 cells (representative images, n = 2 independent slides). Scale bar, 50 μm. (D) mRNA expression of pancreatic transcription factors determined by RNA-seq in control and ∆CRB2Enh PP2 cells. Data are shown as mean of fragments per kilobase per million fragments mapped (FPKM) ± S.E.M. (n = 2 replicates from independent differentiations for control cells ∆CRB2Enh cells represent combined data from two clonal lines with two replicates for each line from independent differentiations. p adj. = 1.00, 1.00, 1.00, 1.00, and 1.00, for comparisons of PDX1, NKX6.1, PROX1, PTF1A, and SOX9, respectively; DESeq2; n.s., not significant). (E) Similarity matrix showing Pearson correlations for normalized transcriptomes (log transformed expression for genes with FPKM ≥1 in ≥1 replicates) in control and ∆CRB2Enh PP2 cells (n = 2 independent differentiations for control cells and for each ∆CRB2Enh clone). See also Figure 5—source data 1.
Figure 5—figure supplement 3. Deletion of CRB2 does not affect pancreatic lineage specification.

Figure 5—figure supplement 3.

(A) Schematic illustrating CRISPR-Cas9-mediated deletion strategy of CRB2 to generate ∆CRB2 hESC clonal line. (B) Immunofluorescent staining for CRB2 in control and ∆CRB2 PP2 cells (representative images, n = 2 independent slides). Scale bar, 50 μm. (C) Flow cytometry analysis for NKX6.1 and PDX1 comparing control and ∆CRB2 PP2 cells. Isotype control (ISO) for each antibody is shown in red and target protein staining in green. Percentage of cells expressing each protein is indicated. (D) Immunofluorescent staining for NKX6.1 and PDX1 in control and ∆CRB2 PP2 cells (representative images, n = 2 independent slides). Scale bar, 50 μm. (E) mRNA expression of pancreatic transcription factors determined by qPCR in control and ∆CRB2 PP2 cells. Data are shown as mean ± S.E.M. (n = 3 replicates from independent differentiations. n = 3 technical replicates for each sample; p=0.241, 0.971, 0.397, 0.374, and 0.311 for comparisons of PDX1, NKX6.1, PROX1, PTF1A, and SOX9 expression in control compared to ∆CRB2 PP2 cells, respectively; student’s t-test, two sided; n.s., not significant). Each plotted point represents the average of technical replicates for each differentiation.

CRB2 is a component of the Crumbs protein complex involved in the regulation of cell polarity and neuronal, heart, retinal, and kidney development (Alves et al., 2013; Bulgakova and Knust, 2009; Dudok et al., 2016; Jiménez-Amilburu and Stainier, 2019; Slavotinek et al., 2015). However, its role in pancreatic development is unknown. To determine whether the CRB2 PSSE regulates CRB2 expression in pancreatic progenitors, we generated two independent hESC clones with homozygous deletions of the CRB2 PSSE (hereafter referred to as ∆CRB2Enh; Figure 5—figure supplement 2A) and performed pancreatic differentiation of ∆CRB2Enh and control hESC lines. In control cells, CRB2 was first expressed at the GT stage and increased markedly at the PP1 stage (Figure 5C). This pattern of CRB2 expression is consistent with H3K27ac deposition at the CRB2 PSSE in GT stage cells and classification as a SE at the PP1 and PP2 stages (Figure 5A and Figure 5—figure supplement 1C). In ∆CRB2Enh cells, we observed upregulation of CRB2 expression at earlier developmental stages, in particular at the DE and GT stages (p<1 × 10−6 at both stages; Figure 5D), suggesting that the CRB2 PSSE may be associated with repressive transcriptional complexes prior to pancreas induction. At the PP2 stage, CRB2 expression was significantly reduced in ∆CRB2Enh cells (p adj. = 3.51 × 10−3; Figure 5D), whereas the expression of other genes in the same TAD was not affected (p adj. ≥0.05; Figure 5E). Thus, the CRB2 PSSE specifically regulates CRB2 and is required for CRB2 expression in pancreatic progenitors.

Phenotypic characterization of PP2 stage ∆CRB2Enh cultures revealed similar percentages of PDX1- and NKX6.1-positive cells as in control cultures (Figure 5—figure supplement 2B,C). The expression of pancreatic transcription factors and global gene expression profiles were also similar in ∆CRB2Enh and control PP2 cells (Figure 5—figure supplement 2D,E and Figure 5—source data 1). Likewise, CRB2 deletion hESCs (∆CRB2) differentiated to the PP2 stage (Figure 5—figure supplement 3A,B) produced similar numbers of PDX1- and NKX6.1-positive cells and expressed pancreatic transcription factors at levels similar to control cells (Figure 5—figure supplement 3C–E). Thus, neither deletion of the CRB2 PSSE nor the CRB2 gene overtly impairs pancreatic lineage induction in the in vitro hESC differentiation system.

lama1 and crb2 zebrafish morphants display annular pancreas and decreased beta cell mass

Based on their classification as extracellular matrix and cell polarity proteins, respectively, Laminin (encoded by LAMA1) and CRB2 are predicted to regulate processes related to tissue morphogenesis, such as cell migration, tissue growth, and cell allocation within the developing organ. Furthermore, PSSE in general were enriched for proximity to genes involved in tissue morphogenesis (Figure 2E), suggesting that T2D risk variants acting within PSSE could have roles in pancreas morphogenesis. Since cell migratory processes and niche-specific signaling events are not fully modeled during hESC differentiation, we reasoned that the in vitro pancreatic differentiation system might not be suitable for studying Laminin and CRB2 function in pancreatic development.

To circumvent these limitations, we employed zebrafish as an in vivo vertebrate model to study the effects of reduced lama1 and crb2 levels on pancreatic development. The basic organization and cell types in the pancreas as well as the genes regulating endocrine and exocrine pancreas development are highly conserved between zebrafish and mammals (Dong et al., 2008; Field et al., 2003; Kimmel et al., 2015). To analyze pancreatic expression of Laminin and Crb proteins, we used Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 embryos to visualize pancreatic progenitor cells and the acinar pancreas by eGFP expression. At 48 hr post-fertilization (hpf), both Laminin and Crb proteins were detected in the eGFP and Nkx6.1 co-positive pancreatic progenitor cell domain (Figure 6—figure supplement 1A,B).

To determine the respective functions of lama1 and crb2 in pancreatic development, we performed knockdown experiments using anti-sense morpholinos directed against lama1 and the two zebrafish crb2 genes, crb2a and crb2b (Omori and Malicki, 2006; Pollard et al., 2006). Knockdown efficiency of each morpholino was validated using whole-mount immunohistochemistry. We observed significant reduction of Laminin staining throughout the pancreatic progenitor cell domain in embryos treated with morpholinos targeting lama1 (Figure 6—figure supplement 2A–D). In embryos treated with morpholinos targeting crb2a or crb2a and crb2b, we observed loss of staining in the pancreatic progenitor cell domain using antibodies specific to Crb2a or antibodies detecting all Crb proteins, respectively (Figure 6—figure supplement 3A–H) Residual panCrb protein signal was observed in the dorsal pancreas, which may be the result of expression of Crb proteins other than Crb2a and Crb2b in this region.

Consistent with prior studies (Pollard et al., 2006), lama1 morphants exhibited reduced body size and other gross anatomical defects at 78 hpf, whereas crb2a/b morphants appeared grossly normal. Both lama1 and crb2a/b morphants displayed an annular pancreas (15 out of 34 lama1 and 27 out of 69 crb2a/b morphants) characterized by pancreatic tissue partially or completely encircling the duodenum (Figure 6A–D), a phenotype indicative of impaired migration of pancreatic progenitors during pancreas formation. These findings suggest that both lama1 and crb2a/b control cell migratory processes during early pancreatic development and that reduced levels of lama1 or crb2a/b impair pancreas morphogenesis.

Figure 6. lama1 and crb2 regulate pancreas morphogenesis and beta cell differentiation.

(A,B) Representative 3D renderings of Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 control zebrafish embryos (A,A’) and lama1 morphants (B,B’) stained with DAPI (nuclei, blue) and antibody against insulin (red); n ≥ 15 embryos per condition. To account for reduced acinar pancreas size in lama1 morphants, control embryos were imaged at 50 hr post fertilization (hpf) and lama1 morphants at 78 hpf. 15 out of 34 lama1 morphants displayed an annular pancreas with two acinar pancreas domains (green) connected behind the presumptive intestine (B’, white arrow). Scale bar, 40 µM. (C,D) Representative 3D renderings of 78 hpf Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 control zebrafish embryos (C,C’) and crb2a/b morphants (D,D’) stained with DAPI (nuclei, blue) and antibodies against insulin (red); n ≥ 15 embryos per condition. Twenty-seven out of 69 crb2a/b morphants displayed an annular pancreas with the acinar pancreas (green) completely surrounding the presumptive intestine. Scale bar, 40 µM. (E) Representative 3D renderings of Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 control zebrafish embryos and crb2a/b, lama1, or crb2a/b + lama1 morphants stained with DAPI (nuclei, blue) and antibody against insulin (red). All embryos were imaged at 78 hpf except for controls to lama1 and crb2a/b + lama1 morphants, which were imaged at 50 hpf to account for reduced acinar pancreas size of lama1 morphants. Scale bar, 20 µM. (F) Quantification of beta (insulin+) cell nuclei per embryo from experiment in (E). p adj. = 4.0 × 10−3, 8.0 × 10−3, and 2.0 × 10−4 for comparison of hfp 78 control (n = 7 embryos) to hfp 78 crb2a/b (n = 8), hpf 50 control (n = 12) to hpf 78 lama1 (n = 10), or crb2a/b + lama1 (n = 12) morphants, respectively; ANOVA-Dunnett’s multiple comparison test; ***p<0.001 **p<0.01. 5 out of 8 crb2a/b, 3 out of 10 lama1, and 9 out of 12 crb2a/b + lama1 morphants displayed an annular pancreas. MO, morpholino; Control, standard control morpholino. See also Figure 6—figure supplements 14.

Figure 6.

Figure 6—figure supplement 1. Laminin and Crb are expressed in zebrafish pancreas progenitors.

Figure 6—figure supplement 1.

(A,B) Confocal images of 36 hr post fertilization (hpf) Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 zebrafish foregut endoderm labeled with DAPI (nuclei, grey) and antibodies against Nkx6.1 (blue; pancreatic progenitors) and Laminin (A, red) or panCrb (B, red); n = 10 embryos stained. (A–A”’’) Z-focal plane image showing pancreatic progenitor cells marked by Nkx6.1 (blue) and low level ptf1a:eGFP, labeled with anti-Laminin antibodies (red). (B–B”’’) Pancreatic progenitors labeled with anti-panCrb antibodies (red). Scale bar, 20 µM.
Figure 6—figure supplement 2. Validation of morpholinos targeting lama1.

Figure 6—figure supplement 2.

Confocal images (3D rendered) of 32–34 hpf Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 zebrafish foregut endoderm labeled with DAPI (nuclei, grey) and anti-Laminin antibodies (red). (A–A’’) Z-focal plane image of pancreatic progenitors marked by ptf1a:eGFP (green) and labeled with anti-Laminin antibodies (red) from embryos injected with non-targeting standard control morpholinos (n = 6). (B–B’’) Z-focal plane image showing loss of Laminin staining (red) in pancreatic progenitors marked by ptf1a:eGFP (green) from embryos injected with morpholinos targeting lama1 (n = 5/6). (C,D) 3D renderings of 45 hpf Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 zebrafish foregut endoderm labeled with antibodies against Nkx6.1 (blue) and Laminin (red). (C–C’’) Z-focal plane image of pancreatic progenitors marked by ptf1a:eGFP (green) and labeled with anti-Nkx6.1 (blue) and anti-Laminin (red) antibodies from embryos injected with standard control morpholinos (n = 4/4). (D–D’’) Z-focal plane image showing loss of Laminin staining (red) in pancreatic progenitors marked by ptf1:eGFP and labeled with anti-Nkx6.1 antibodies (blue) from embryos injected with morpholinos targeting lama1 (n = 3/4). Scale bar, 20 µM. Arrows highlight pancreatic progenitors marked by Laminin (red), Nkx6.1 (blue) and ptf1a:eGFP. MO, morpholino.
Figure 6—figure supplement 3. Validation of morpholinos targeting crb2a and crb2b.

Figure 6—figure supplement 3.

(A,B) 3D renderings of 32–34 hpf Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 zebrafish foregut endoderm labeled with DAPI (nuclei, grey) and anti-Crb2a antibodies (red). (A–A’’) Z-focal plane image showing Crb2a labeled (red) foregut endoderm from embryos injected with standard control morpholinos (n = 6). (B–B’’) Z-focal plane image showing loss of Crb2a staining (red) in the foregut endoderm from embryos injected with morpholinos targeting crb2a (n = 6/6). (C,D) 3D renderings of 45 hpf Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 zebrafish foregut endoderm labeled with DAPI (nuclei, grey) and anti-Crb2a antibodies (red). (C–C’) Z-focal plane image showing Crb2a-labeled (red) embryos injected with standard control morpholinos (n = 3). (D–D’) Z-focal plane image showing loss of Crb2a staining (red) in embryos injected with morpholinos targeting crb2a (n = 3/3).(E,F) 3D renderings of 32–34 hpf Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 zebrafish foregut endoderm labeled with DAPI (nuclei, grey) and anti-panCrb antibodies (red). (E–E’’) Z-focal plane image showing pancreatic progenitors marked by ptf1a:eGFP (green) and labeled with anti-panCrb antibodies (red; white arrows) from embryos injected with standard control morpholinos (n = 8). (F–F’’) Z-focal plane image showing reduced panCrb (red) staining in pancreatic progenitors marked by ptf1a:eGFP (green) from embryos injected with morpholinos targeting both crb2a and crb2b (n = 4/5). (G,H) 3D renderings of 45 hpf Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 zebrafish foregut endoderm labeled with anti-Nkx6.1 (blue) and anti-panCrb (red) antibodies. (G–G’’) Z-focal plane image showing pancreatic progenitors marked by ptf1a:eGFP (green) and labeled with anti-Nkx6.1 (blue) and anti-panCrb (red; white arrows) antibodies from embryos injected with standard control morpholinos (n = 4). (H–H’’) Z-focal plane image showing reduced panCrb (red) staining in pancreatic progenitors marked by ptf1a:eGFP and labeled with anti-Nkx6.1 antibodies (blue) from embryos injected with morpholinos targeting both crb2a and crb2b (n = 3/4). Yellow arrows denote dorsal pancreas where panCrb labeling remains in control injected embryos, possibly due to expression of alternate Crb proteins present within the dorsal pancreas. Scale bar, 20 µM. MO, morpholino.
Figure 6—figure supplement 4. crb2b but not crb2a regulates pancreatic beta cell differentiation.

Figure 6—figure supplement 4.

Quantification of beta (insulin+) cell nuclei per embryo in Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 control zebrafish embryos and crb2a or crb2b morphants at 78 hr post fertilization (hpf). p adj. = 0.91 and 4.4 × 10−2 for comparison of control (n = 7 embryos) to crb2a (n = 8) or crb2b (n = 8) morphants, respectively; ANOVA-Dunnett’s multiple comparison test; **p<0.01, n.s., not significant. 0 out of 8 crb2a, 0 out of 8 crb2b morphants displayed an annular pancreas. MO, morpholino; Control, standard control morpholino.

To gain insight into the effects of lama1 and crb2a/b knockdown on pancreatic endocrine cell development, we examined beta cell numbers (insulin+ cells) at 78 hpf. We also evaluated potential synergistic effects of combined lama1 and crb2a/b knockdown. To account for the reduction in body and pancreas size in lama1 morphants, we compared cell numbers in 78 hpf lama1 morphants with 50 hpf control embryos, which have a similarly sized acinar compartment as 78 hpf lama1 morphants. Beta cell numbers were significantly reduced in both lama1 and crb2a/b morphants (p=8.0 × 10−3 and 4.0 × 10−3 for comparisons of lama1 and crb2a/b morphants, respectively; Figure 6E,F), as well as in morphants with a combined knockdown of lama1 and crb2a/b (p=2.0 × 10−4; Figure 6F), showing that reduced lama1 and crb2a/b levels, both individually and in combination, impair beta cell development. Furthermore, we found that nearly all lama1, crb2a/b, and combined lama1 and crb2a/b morphants without an annular pancreas had reduced beta cell numbers, indicating independent roles of lama1 and crb2 in pancreas morphogenesis and beta cell differentiation. Finally, to investigate the contributions of individual crb2 genes to the observed phenotype, we performed knockdown experiments using morpholinos against crb2a and crb2b alone. Only crb2b morphants showed a significant reduction in beta cell numbers (p=4.4 × 10−2; Figure 6—figure supplement 4), suggesting that crb2b is the predominant crb2 gene required for beta cell development. Combined, these findings demonstrate that lama1 and crb2 are regulators of pancreas morphogenesis and beta cell development in vivo.

Discussion

In this study, we identify T2D-associated variants localized within chromatin active in pancreatic progenitors but not islets or other T2D-relevant tissues, suggesting a novel mechanism whereby a subset of T2D risk variants specifically alters pancreatic developmental processes. We link T2D-associated enhancers active in pancreatic progenitors to the regulation of LAMA1 and CRB2 and demonstrate a functional requirement in zebrafish for lama1 and crb2 in pancreas morphogenesis and endocrine cell formation. Furthermore, we provide a curated list of T2D risk-associated enhancers and candidate effector genes for further exploration of how the regulation of developmental processes in the pancreas can predispose to T2D.

Our analysis identified 11 loci where T2D-associated variants mapped in SE specifically active in pancreatic progenitors. Among these loci was LAMA1, which has stronger effects on T2D risk in lean compared to obese individuals (Perry et al., 2012). We also found evidence that variants in PSSE collectively have stronger enrichment for T2D in lean individuals, although the small number of PSSE and limited sample size of the BMI-stratified T2D genetic data prohibits a more robust comparison. There was also a notable lack of enrichment among PSSE variants for association with traits related to insulin secretion and beta cell function. If T2D-associated variants in PSSE indeed confer diabetes susceptibility by affecting beta cell development, the question arises as to why variants associated with traits related to beta cell function are not enriched within PSSE. As genetic association studies of endophenotypes are based on data from non-diabetic subjects, a possible explanation is that variants affecting beta cell developmental processes have no overt phenotypic effect under physiological conditions and contribute to T2D pathogenesis only during the disease process.

Since the genomic position of enhancers and transcription factor binding sites is not well conserved between species (Villar et al., 2015), a human cell model is necessary to identify target genes of enhancers associated with disease risk. By employing enhancer deletion in hESCs, we demonstrate that T2D-associated PSSE at the LAMA1 and CRB2 loci regulate LAMA1 and CRB2, respectively, and establish LAMA1 and CRB2 as the predominant target gene of their corresponding PSSE within TAD boundaries. By analyzing LAMA1 and CRB2 expression throughout the pancreatic differentiation time course, we show that the identified PSSE control LAMA1 and CRB2 expression in a temporal manner consistent with the activation pattern of their associated PSSE. While the specific T2D-relevant target genes of the majority of T2D-associated PSSE remain to be identified, it is notable that several are localized within TADs containing genes encoding transcriptional regulators. These include PROX1 and GATA4, which are known to regulate pancreatic development (Shi et al., 2017; Tiyaboonchai et al., 2017; Westmoreland et al., 2012), as well as HMGA2 and BCL6 with unknown functions in the pancreas. Our catalogue of T2D-associated PSSE provides a resource to fully characterize the gene regulatory program associated with developmentally mediated T2D risk in the pancreas. Our finding that predicted target genes of PSSE are similarly expressed in hESC-derived pancreatic progenitors and primary human embryonic pancreas (Figure 3B and Figure 3—figure supplement 1A) further underscores the utility of the hESC-based system for these studies.

In the embryo, endocrine cells differentiate by delaminating from a polarized epithelium of progenitors governed by local cell-cell and cell-matrix signaling events (Mamidi et al., 2018). These processes are not well-recapitulated in the hESC-based pancreatic differentiation system, highlighting a limitation of this system for studying the function of Laminin and CRB2, which are mediators of mechanical signals within an epithelium. Therefore, we analyzed their function in zebrafish as an in vivo model. We show that lama1 or crb2 knockdown leads to an annular pancreas and reduced beta cell numbers. The beta cell differentiation defect was also evident in embryos not displaying an annular pancreas, suggesting independent mechanisms.

Consistent with our findings in lama1 morphants, culture of pancreatic progenitors on Laminin-based substrates promotes endocrine cell differentiation (Mamidi et al., 2018). During in vivo pancreatic development, endothelial cells are an important albeit not the only source of Laminin in the pancreas (Heymans et al., 2019; Mamidi et al., 2018; Nikolova et al., 2006). While we do not know the respective contributions of endothelial cell- and pancreatic progenitor cell-derived Laminin to the phenotype of lama1 morphants, the T2D-associated LAMA1 PSSE is not active in endothelial cells (Figure 3—figure supplement 1C). Furthermore, we found no other T2D-associated variants at the LAMA1 locus mapping in endothelial cell enhancers or accessible chromatin sites in islets, suggesting that T2D risk is linked to LAMA1 regulation in pancreatic progenitors.

Similar to Laminin, CRB2 has been shown to regulate mechanosignaling (Varelas et al., 2010). Our observation that pancreatic progenitor cells express Crb proteins is consistent with the phenotype of crb2 morphants reflecting a progenitor-autonomous role of Crb2. Furthermore, the similarity in pancreatic phenotype between lama1 or crb2 morphants raises the possibility that signals from Laminin and Crb2 could converge on the same intracellular pathways in pancreatic progenitors.

Our findings suggest that variation in gene regulation during pancreatic development can predispose to T2D later in life. Several lines of evidence support the concept of a developmental impact on T2D risk. First, human genetic studies have shown a strong correlation between birth weight and adult cardiometabolic traits and disease (Horikoshi et al., 2016). Second, epidemiological studies provide evidence that offspring of mothers who were pregnant during a famine have a higher prevalence of T2D (Lumey et al., 2015). This phenomenon has been experimentally reproduced in rodents, where maternal malnutrition has been shown to cause reduced beta cell mass at birth and to render beta cells more prone to failure under stress (Nielsen et al., 2014). Together, our results provide a strong rationale for further exploration of how genetic variants affecting developmental gene regulation in the pancreas contribute to T2D risk.

Materials and methods

Key resources table.

Reagent type (species)
or resource
Designation Source or reference Identifiers Additional information
Antibody APC Mouse monoclonal IgG1, κ Isotype Control BD Pharmingen Cat# 555751, RRID:AB_398613 Flow cytometry (1:100)
Antibody Chicken polyclonal anti-GFP Aves Labs Cat# GFP-1020, RRID:AB_10000240 Immunohistochemistry (1:200)
Antibody Cy3-conjugated donkey polyclonal anti-mouse Jackson ImmunoResearch Labs Cat# 715-165-150, RRID:AB_2340813 Immunofluorescence (1:1000)
Antibody DyLight 488-conjugated donkey polyconal anti-goat Jackson ImmunoResearch Labs Cat# 705-545-003, RRID:AB_2340428 Immunofluorescence (1:500)
Antibody Goat polyclonal anti-CTCF Santa Cruz Biotechnology Cat# SC-15914X, RRID:AB_2086899 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Antibody Goat polyclonal anti-FOXA1 Abcam Cat# ab5089, RRID:AB_304744 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Antibody Goat polyclonal anti-FOXA2 Santa Cruz Biotechnology Cat# sc-6554, RRID:AB_2262810 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Antibody Goat polyclonal anti-GATA4 Santa Cruz Biotechnology Cat# sc-1237, RRID:AB_2108747 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Antibody Goat polyclonal anti-PDX1 Abcam Cat# ab47383, RRID:AB_2162359 Immunofluorescence (1:500)
Antibody Guinea pig polyclonal anti-Insulin Biomeda Cat# v2024 Immunohistochemistry (1:200)
Antibody Mouse monoclonal anti-Crb2a ZIRC Cat# Zs-4 Immunohistochemistry (1:100)
Antibody Mouse polyclonal anti-GATA6 Santa Cruz Biotechnology Cat# sc-9055, RRID:AB_2108768 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Antibody Mouse monoclonal anti-NKX6.1 Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank Cat# F64A6B4, RRID:AB_532380 Immunofluorescence (1:300)
Antibody Mouse monoclonal anti-NKX6.1-Alexa Fluor 647 BD Biosciences Cat# 563338, RRID:AB_2738144 Flow cytometry (1:5)
Antibody Mouse monoclonal anti-NKX6.1 Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank Cat# F55A10, RRID:AB_532378 Immunohistochemistry (1:10)
Antibody Mouse monoclonal anti-PDX1-PE BD Biosciences Cat# 562161, RRID:AB_10893589 Flow cytometry (1:10)
Antibody PE Mouse monoclonal IgG1, κ Isotype Control BD Pharmingen Cat# 555749, RRID:AB_396091 Flow cytometry (1:100)
Antibody Rabbit polyclonal anti-CRB2 Sigma Cat # SAB1301340 Immunofluorescence (1:500)
Antibody Rabbit polyclonal anti-H3K27ac Active Motif Cat# 39133, RRID:AB_2561016 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Antibody Rabbit polyclonal anti-H3K4me1 Abcam Cat# ab8895, RRID:AB_306847 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Antibody Rabbit polyclonal anti-HNF6 Santa Cruz Biotechnology Cat# sc-13050, RRID:AB_2251852 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Antibody Rabbit polyclonal anti-laminin Sigma Cat# L9393, RRID:AB_477163 Immunohistochemistry (1:100)
Immunofluorescence (1:30)
Antibody Rabbit monoclonal anti-panCrb Jensen Laboratory, University of Massachusetts, Amherst N/A Immunohistochemistry (1:100)
Antibody Rabbit polyclonal anti-PDX1 Beta Cell Biology Consortium AB1068 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Antibody Rabbit polyclonal anti-SOX9 Chemicon Cat# 5535, RRID:AB_2239761 ChIP-seq (4 ug)
Cell line (Homo-sapiens) CyT49 ViaCyte, Inc NIHhESC-10–0041,
RRID:CVCL_B850
Male
Cell line (Homo-sapiens) H1 WiCell Research
Institute
NIHhESC-10–0043,
RRID:CVCL_9771
Male
Chemical compound, drug 2-Mercaptoethanol Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# 21985023
Chemical compound, drug Accutase Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# 00-4555-56
Chemical compound, drug B-27 supplement Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# 17504044
Chemical compound, drug Bovine Albumin Fraction V Life Technologies Cat# 15260037
Chemical compound, drug D-(+)-Glucose Solution, 45% Sigma-Aldrich Cat# G8769
Chemical compound, drug DAPI Invitrogen Cat# D1306 Immunohistochemistry (1:200)
Chemical compound, drug DMEM High Glucose VWR Cat# 16750–082
Chemical compound, drug DMEM/F12 [-] L-glutamine VWR Cat# 15–090-CV
Chemical compound, drug DMEM/F12 with L-Glutamine, HEPES Corning Cat# 45000–350
Chemical compound, drug DMF EMD Millipore Cat# DX1730
Chemical compound, drug DPBS Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# 21–031-CV
Chemical compound, drug DTT Sigma Cat# D9779
Chemical compound, drug Fetal Bovine Serum Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# MT35011CV
Chemical compound, drug Glutamax Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# 35050–079
Chemical compound, drug GlutaMAX Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# 35050061
Chemical compound, drug Hoechst 33342 Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# H3570
Chemical compound, drug HyClone Dulbecco’s Modified Eagles Medium Thermo Fisher
Scientific
Cat# SH30081.FS
Chemical compound, drug IGEPAL-CA630 Sigma Cat# I8896
Chemical compound, drug Illumina tagmentation enzyme Illumina Cat# FC-121–1030
Chemical compound, drug Insulin-Transferrin-Selenium (ITS) Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# 41400045
Chemical compound, drug Insulin-Transferrin-Selenium-Ethanolamine (ITS-X) Thermo Fisher
Scientific
Cat# 51500–056
Chemical compound, drug KAAD-Cyclopamine Toronto Research Chemicals Cat# K171000
Chemical compound, drug K-acetate Sigma Cat# P5708
Chemical compound, drug KnockOut SR XenoFree Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# A1099202
Chemical compound, drug LDN-193189 Stemgent Cat# 04–0074
Chemical compound, drug Matrigel Corning Cat# 356231
Chemical compound, drug MCDB 131 Thermo Fisher
Scientific
Cat# 10372–019
Chemical compound, drug Mg-acetate Sigma Cat# M2545
Chemical compound, drug mTeSR1 Complete Kit - GMP STEMCELL
Technologies
Cat# 85850
Chemical compound, drug NEBNext High-Fidelity 2X PCR Master Mix NEB Cat# M0541
Chemical compound, drug Non-Essential Amino Acids Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# 11140050
Chemical compound, drug O.C.T. Compound Sakura Finetek USA Cat# 25608–930
Chemical compound, drug Penicillin-Streptomycin Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# 15140122
Chemical compound, drug Polyethylenimine (PEI) Polysciences Cat# 23966–1
Chemical compound, drug Protease inhibitor Roche Cat# 05056489001
Chemical compound, drug Retinoic acid Sigma-Aldrich Cat# R2625
Chemical compound, drug RNA ScreenTape Sample Buffer Agilent Technologies Cat# 5067–5577
Chemical compound, drug ROCK Inhibitor Y-27632 STEMCELL
Technologies
Cat# 72305
Chemical compound, drug RPMI 1640 [-] L-glutamine VWR Cat# 15–040-CV
Chemical compound, drug SANT-1 Sigma-Aldrich Cat# S4572
Chemical compound, drug Sodium Bicarbonate Sigma-Aldrich Cat# NC0564699
Chemical compound, drug Tamoxifen Sigma Cat# T5648
Chemical compound, drug TGF-β RI Kinase Inhibitor IV Calbiochem Cat# 616454
Chemical compound, drug TPB Calbiochem Cat# 565740
Chemical compound, drug Tranylcypromine Cayman Chemical Cat# 10010494
Chemical compound, drug Tris-acetate Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# BP-152
Chemical compound, drug TTNPB Enzo Life Sciences Cat# BML-GR105
Chemical compound, drug Vectashield Antifade Mounting Medium Vector Laboratories Cat# H-1000
Chemical compound, drug XtremeGene 9 Roche Cat# 6365787001
Commercial assay High Sensitivity D1000 ScreenTape Agilent Technologies Cat# 5067–5584
Commercial assay, kit RNA ScreenTape Agilent Technologies Cat# 5067–5576
Commercial assay, kit RNA ScreenTape Ladder Agilent Technologies Cat# 5067–5578
Commercial assay, kit BD Cytofix/Cytoperm Plus Fixation/Permeabilization Solution Kit BD Biosciences Cat# 554715
Commercial assay, kit ChIP-IT High Sensitivity Kit Active Motif Cat# 53040
Commercial assay, kit iQ SYBR Green Supermix Bio-Rad Cat# 1708884
Commercial assay, kit iScript cDNA Synthesis Kit Bio-Rad Cat# 1708891
Commercial assay, kit KAPA Library Preparation Kit (Illumina) Kapa Biosystems Cat# KK8234
Commercial assay, kit KAPA Stranded mRNA-Seq Kits Kapa Biosystems Cat# KK8401
Commercial assay, kit MinElute PCR purification kit QIAGEN Cat# 28004
Commercial assay, kit Qubit ssDNA assay kit Thermo Fisher Scientific Cat# Q10212
Commercial assay, kit RNeasy Micro Kit QIAGEN Cat# 74004
Genetic reagent (D. rerio) Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 PMID:16258076 N/A
Other SPRIselect bead Beckman Coulter Cat# B23317
Recombinant protein Activin A R and D Systems Cat# 338-AC/CF
Recombinant protein Human AB Serum Valley Biomedical Cat# HP1022
Recombinant protein Recombinant EGF R and D Systems Cat# 236-EG
Recombinant protein Recombinant Heregulinβ−1 Peprotech Cat# 100–03
Recombinant protein Recombinant KGF/FGF7 R and D Systems Cat# 251 KG
Recombinant protein Recombinant Mouse Wnt3A R and D Systems Cat# 1324-WN/CF
Recombinant protein Recombinant Noggin R and D Systems Cat# 3344 NG
Sequence-based reagent Px333 Plasmid http://www.addgene.org/64073/ RRID:Addgene_64073
Sequence-based reagent LAMA1 Forward This paper qPCR primers GTG ATG GCA ACA GCG CAA A
Sequence-based reagent LAMA1 Reverse This paper qPCR primers GAC CCA GTG ATA TTC TCT CCC A
Sequence-based reagent CRB2 Forward This paper qPCR primers ACC ACT GTG CTT GTC CTG AG
Sequence-based reagent CRB2 Reverse This paper qPCR primers TCC AGG GTC GCT AGA TGG AG
Sequence-based reagent TBP Forward This paper qPCR primers TGT GCA CAG GAG CCA AGA GT
Sequence-based reagent TBP Reverse This paper qPCR primers ATT TTC TTG CTG CCA GTC TGG
Sequence-based reagent LAMA1Enh Upstream Guide This paper CRISPR sgRNA GTC AAA TTG CTA TAA CAC GG
Sequence-based reagent LAMA1Enh Downstream Guide This paper CRISPR sgRNA CCA CTT TAA GTA TCT CAG CA
Sequence-based reagent CRB2Enh Upstream Guide This paper CRISPR sgRNA ATA CAA AGC ACG TGA GA
Sequence-based reagent CRB2Enh Downstream Guide This paper CRISPR sgRNA GAA TGC GGA TGA CGC CTG AG
Sequence-based reagent lama1-ATG PMID:16321372 Morpholino TCA TCC TCA TCT CCA TCA TCG CTC A
Obtained from GeneTools, LLC
Sequence-based reagent crb2a-SP PMID:16713951 Morpholino ACG TTG CCA GTA CCT GTG TAT CCT G
Obtained from GeneTools, LLC
Sequence-based reagent crb2b-SP PMID:16713951 Morpholino TAA AGA TGT CCT ACC CAG CTT GAA C
Obtained from GeneTools, LLC
Sequence-based reagent standard control MO N/A Morpholino CCT CTT ACC TCA GTT ACA ATT TAT A
Obtained from GeneTools, LLC
Software, algorithm Adobe Illustrator v 5.1 http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator.html RRID:SCR_014198
Software, algorithm Adobe Photoshop v 5.1 http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html RRID:SCR_014199
Software, algorithm BEDtools v 2.26.0 https://github.com/arq5x/bedtools2 RRID:SCR_006646
Software, algorithm Bioconductor https://www.bioconductor.org/ RRID: SCR_006442
Software, algorithm Burrows-Wheeler Aligner v 0.7.13 http://bio-bwa.sourceforge.net/ RRID:SCR_010910
Software, algorithm CENTIPEDE v 1.2 http://centipede.uchicago.edu/ N/A
Software, algorithm Cufflinks v 2.2.1 http://cole-trapnell-lab.github.io/cufflinks/ RRID:SCR_014597
Software, algorithm deepTools2 v 3.1.3 https://deeptools.readthedocs.io/en/develop/content/installation.html N/A
Software, algorithm DESeq2 v 3.10 https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/DESeq2.html RRID:SCR_015687
Software, algorithm FlowJo v10 software https://www.flowjo.com/solutions/flowjo RRID: SCR_008520
Software, algorithm GraphPad Prism v 8.1.2 https://www.graphpad.com/scientific-software/prism/ RRID: SCR_002798
Software, algorithm HOMER v 4.10.4 http://homer.ucsd.edu/homer/ RRID: SCR_010881
Software, algorithm Juicebox Tools v 1.4 https://github.com/aidenlab/Juicebox/wiki/Juicebox-Assembly-Tools N/A
Software, algorithm MACS2 v 2.1.4 http://liulab.dfci.harvard.edu/MACS/ RRID:SCR_013291
Software, algorithm MEME suite v 5.1.1 http://meme-suite.org/ RRID:SCR_001783
Software, algorithm Metascape http://metscape.ncibi.org RRID:SCR_014687
Software, algorithm Picard Tools v 1.131 http://broadinstitute.github.io/picard/ RRID:SCR_006525
Software, algorithm R Project for Statistical Computing v 3.6.1 http://www.r-project.org/ RRID:SCR_001905
Software, algorithm SAMtools v 1.5 http://samtools.sourceforge.net RRID:SCR_002105
Software, algorithm STAR v 2.4 https://github.com/alexdobin/STAR N/A
Software, algorithm UCSC Genome Browser http://genome.ucsc.edu/ RRID:SCR_005780
Software, algorithm vcf2diploid v 0.2.6a https://github.com/abyzovlab/vcf2diploid N/A
Software, algorithm ZEISS ZEN Digital Imaging for Light Microscopy http://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/en_us/products/microscope-software/zen.html#introduction RRID:SCR_013672

Maintenance and differentiation of CyT49 hESCs

Genomic and gene expression analyses (ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, RNA-seq) for generation of chromatin maps and target gene identification were performed in CyT49 hESCs (male). Propagation of CyT49 hESCs was carried out by passing cells every 3 to 4 days using Accutase (eBioscience) for enzymatic cell dissociation, and with 10% (v/v) human AB serum (Valley Biomedical) included in the hESC media the day of passage. hESCs were seeded into tissue culture flasks at a density of 50,000 cells/cm2. hESC research was approved by the University of California, San Diego, Institutional Review Board and Embryonic Stem Cell Research oversight committee.

Pancreatic differentiation was performed as previously described (Schulz et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2015; Xie et al., 2013). Briefly, a suspension-based culture format was used to differentiate cells in aggregate form. Undifferentiated aggregates of hESCs were formed by re-suspending dissociated cells in hESC maintenance medium at a concentration of 1 × 106 cells/mL and plating 5.5 mL per well of the cell suspension in 6-well ultra-low attachment plates (Costar). The cells were cultured overnight on an orbital rotator (Innova2000, New Brunswick Scientific) at 95 rpm. After 24 hr the undifferentiated aggregates were washed once with RPMI medium and supplied with 5.5 mL of day 0 differentiation medium. Thereafter, cells were supplied with the fresh medium for the appropriate day of differentiation (see below). Cells were continually rotated at 95 rpm, or 105 rpm on days 4 through 8, and no media change was performed on day 10. Both RPMI (Mediatech) and DMEM High Glucose (HyClone) medium were supplemented with 1X GlutaMAX and 1% penicillin/streptomycin. Human activin A, mouse Wnt3a, human KGF, human noggin, and human EGF were purchased from R and D systems. Other added components included FBS (HyClone), B-27 supplement (Life Technologies), Insulin-Transferrin-Selenium (ITS; Life Technologies), TGFβ R1 kinase inhibitor IV (EMD Bioscience), KAAD-Cyclopamine (KC; Toronto Research Chemicals), and the retinoic receptor agonist TTNPB (RA; Sigma Aldrich). Day-specific differentiation media formulations were as follows:

  • Days 0 and 1: RPMI + 0.2% (v/v) FBS, 100 ng/mL Activin, 50 ng/mL mouse Wnt3a, 1:5000 ITS. Days 1 and 2: RPMI + 0.2% (v/v) FBS, 100 ng/mL Activin, 1:5000 ITS

  • Days 2 and 3: RPMI + 0.2% (v/v) FBS, 2.5 mM TGFβ R1 kinase inhibitor IV, 25 ng/mL KGF, 1:1000 ITS

  • Days 3–5: RPMI + 0.2% (v/v) FBS, 25 ng/mL KGF, 1:1000 ITS

  • Days 5–8: DMEM + 0.5X B-27 Supplement, 3 nM TTNPB, 0.25 mM KAAD-Cyclopamine, 50 ng/mL Noggin

  • Days 8–10: DMEM/B-27, 50 ng/mL KGF, 50 ng/mL EGF

Cells at D0 correspond to the embryonic stem cell (ES) stage, cells at D2 correspond to the definitive endoderm (DE) stage, cells at D5 correspond to the gut tube (GT) stage, cells at D7 correspond to the early pancreatic progenitor (PP1) stage, and cells at D10 correspond to the late pancreatic progenitor (PP2) stage.

Maintenance and differentiation of H1 hESCs

∆LAMA1Enh and ∆CRB2Enh clonal lines were derived by targeting H1 hESCs (male). Cells were maintained and differentiated as described with some modifications (Jin et al., 2019; Rezania et al., 2014). In brief, hESCs were cultured in mTeSR1 media (Stem Cell Technologies) and propagated by passaging cells every 3–4 days using Accutase (eBioscience) for enzymatic cell dissociation. hESC research was approved by the University of California, San Diego, Institutional Review Board and Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee.

For differentiation, cells were dissociated using Accutase for 10 min, then reaggregated by plating the cells at a concentration of ~5.5 e6 cells/well in a low attachment six-well plate on an orbital shaker (100 rpm) in a 37°C incubator. The following day, undifferentiated cells were washed in base media (see below) and then differentiated using a multi-step protocol with stage-specific media and daily media changes.

All stage-specific base media were comprised of MCDB 131 medium (Thermo Fisher Scientific) supplemented with NaHCO3, GlutaMAX, D-Glucose, and BSA using the following concentrations:

  • Stage 1/2 medium: MCDB 131 medium, 1.5 g/L NaHCO3, 1X GlutaMAX, 10 mM D-Glucose, 0.5% BSA

  • Stage 3/4 medium: MCDB 131 medium, 2.5 g/L NaHCO3, 1X GlutaMAX, 10 mM D-glucose, 2% BSA

Media compositions for each stage were as follows:

  • Stage 1 (day 0–2): base medium, 100 ng/ml Activin A, 25 ng/ml Wnt3a (day 0). Day 1–2: base medium, 100 ng/ml Activin A

  • Stage 2 (day 3–5): base medium, 0.25 mM L-Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), 50 ng/mL FGF7

  • Stage 3 (day 6–7): base medium, 0.25 mM L-Ascorbic Acid, 50 ng/mL FGF7, 0.25 µM SANT-1, 1 µM Retinoic Acid, 100 nM LDN193189, 1:200 ITS-X, 200 nM TPB

  • Stage 4 (day 8–10): base medium, 0.25 mM L-Ascorbic Acid, 2 ng/mL FGF7, 0.25 µM SANT-1, 0.1 µM Retinoic Acid, 200 nM LDN193189, 1:200 ITS-X, 100 nM TPB

Cells at D0 correspond to the embryonic stem cell (ES) stage, cells at D3 correspond to the definitive endoderm (DE) stage, cells at D6 correspond to the gut tube (GT) stage, cells at D8 correspond to the early pancreatic progenitor (PP1) stage, and cells at D11 correspond to the late pancreatic progenitor (PP2) stage.

Generation of ∆LAMA1Enh, ∆CRB2Enh, ∆LAMA1, and ∆CRB2 hESC lines

To generate clonal homozygous LAMA1Enh and CRB2Enh deletion hESC lines, sgRNAs targeting each relevant enhancer were designed and cloned into Px333-GFP, a modified version of Px333 (Addgene, #64073). To generate clonal homozygous LAMA1 and CRB2 deletion hESC lines, sgRNAs targeting the second exon of each gene were designed and cloned into Px458 (Addgene, #48138). Plasmids expressing the sgRNAs were transfected into H1 hESCs with XtremeGene 9 (Roche). Twenty-four hr later, 8000 GFP+ cells were sorted into a well of six-well plate. Individual colonies that emerged within 5–7 days after transfection were subsequently transferred manually into 48-well plates for expansion, genomic DNA extraction, PCR genotyping, and Sanger sequencing. sgRNA oligos are listed below.

  • LAMA1Enh Upstream Guide: GTCAAATTGCTATAACACGG

  • LAMA1Enh Downstream Guide: CCACTTTAAGTATCTCAGCA

  • CRB2Enh Upstream Guide: ATACAAAGCACGTGAGA

  • CRB2Enh Downstream Guide: GAATGCGGATGACGCCTGAG

  • LAMA1 Exon 2 Guide: ATCAGCACCAATGCCACCTG

  • CRB2 Exon 2 Guide: TCGATGTCCAGCTCGCAGCG

Human tissue

Human embryonic pancreas tissue was obtained from the Birth Defects Research Laboratory of the University of Washington. Studies for use of embryonic human tissue were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of California, San Diego. A pancreas from a 54- and 58-day gestation embryo each were pooled for RNA-seq analysis.

Zebrafish husbandry

Adult zebrafish and embryos were cared for and maintained under standard conditions. All research activity involving zebrafish was reviewed and approved by SBP Medical Discovery Institute Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The following transgenic lines were used: Tg(ptf1a:eGFP)jh1 (Godinho et al., 2005).

Morpholino injections in zebrafish

The following previously validated morpholinos were injected into the yolk at the one-cell stage in a final volume of either 0.5 or 1 nl: 0.75 ng lama1-ATG (5’- TCATCCT CATCTCCATCATCGCTCA −3’); 3 ng crb2a-SP, (5’-ACGTTGCCAGTACCTGTGTATCCTG-3’) (Omori and Malicki, 2006; Watanabe et al., 2010); 3 ng crb2b-SP, (5’-TAAAGATGTCCTACCCAGCTTGAAC-3’) (Omori and Malicki, 2006); 6.75 ng standard control MO (5’- CCTCTTACCTCAGTTACAATTTATA −3’). All morpholinos were obtained from GeneTools, LLC.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq)

ChIP-seq was performed using the ChIP-IT High-Sensitivity kit (Active Motif) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Briefly, for each cell stage and condition analyzed, 5–10 × 106 cells were harvested and fixed for 15 min in an 11.1% formaldehyde solution. Cells were lysed and homogenized using a Dounce homogenizer and the lysate was sonicated in a Bioruptor Plus (Diagenode), on high for 3 × 5 min (30 s on, 30 s off). Between 10 and 30 µg of the resulting sheared chromatin was used for each immunoprecipitation. Equal quantities of sheared chromatin from each sample were used for immunoprecipitations carried out at the same time. A total of 4 µg of antibody were used for each ChIP-seq assay. Chromatin was incubated with primary antibodies overnight at 4°C on a rotator followed by incubation with Protein G agarose beads for 3 hr at 4°C on a rotator. Antibodies used were rabbit anti-H3K27ac (Active Motif 39133), rabbit anti-H3K4me1 (Abcam ab8895), rabbit anti-H3K4me3 (Millipore 04–745), rabbit anti-H3K27me3 (Millipore 07–499), goat anti-CTCF (Santa Cruz Biotechnology SC-15914X), goat anti-GATA4 (Santa Cruz SC-1237), rabbit anti-GATA6 (Santa Cruz SC-9055), goat anti-FOXA1 (Abcam Ab5089), goat-anti-FOXA2 (Santa Cruz SC-6554), rabbit anti-PDX1 (BCBC AB1068), rabbit anti-HNF6 (Santa Cruz SC-13050), and rabbit anti-SOX9 (Chemicon AB5535). Reversal of crosslinks and DNA purification were performed according to the ChIP-IT High-Sensitivity instructions, with the modification of incubation at 65°C for 2–3 hr, rather than at 80°C for 2 hr. Sequencing libraries were constructed using KAPA DNA Library Preparation Kits for Illumina (Kapa Biosystems) and library sequencing was performed on either a HiSeq 4000 System (Illumina) or NovaSeq 6000 System (Illumina) with single-end reads of either 50 or 75 base pairs (bp). Sequencing was performed by the Institute for Genomic Medicine (IGM) core research facility at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). Two replicates from independent hESC differentiations were generated for each ChIP-seq experiment.

ChIP-seq data analysis

ChIP-seq reads were mapped to the human genome consensus build (hg19/GRCh37) and visualized using the UCSC Genome Browser (Kent et al., 2002). Burrows-Wheeler Aligner (BWA) (Li and Durbin, 2009) version 0.7.13 was used to map data to the genome. Unmapped and low-quality (q < 15) reads were discarded. SAMtools (Li et al., 2009) was used to remove duplicate sequences and HOMER (Heinz et al., 2010) was used to call peaks using default parameters and to generate tag density plots. Stage- and condition-matched input DNA controls were used as background when calling peaks. The BEDtools suite of programs (Quinlan and Hall, 2010) was used to perform genomic algebra operations. For all ChIP-seq experiments, replicates from two independent hESC differentiations were generated. Tag directories were created for each replicate using HOMER. Directories from each replicate were then combined, and peaks were called from the combined replicates. For histone modifications and CTCF peaks, pearson correlations between each pair of replicates were calculated over the called peaks using the command multiBamSummary from the deepTools2 package (Ramírez et al., 2016). For pancreatic lineage-determining transcription factors (GATA4, GATA6, FOXA1, FOXA2, HNF6, PDX1, SOX9), correlations were calculated for peaks overlapping PSSE. Calculated Pearson correlations are as follow:

H3K4me1 H3K27ac CTCF H3K4me3 H3K27me3
ES 0.90 0.91 0.87 0.81 1.00
DE 0.97 0.84 0.86 0.99 0.99
GT 0.97 0.87 0.89 0.97 0.99
PP1 0.97 0.85 0.89 0.96 0.99
PP2 0.98 0.87 0.87 0.97 1.00
GATA4 GATA6 FOXA1 FOXA2 HNF6 PDX1 SOX9
PP2 0.86 0.82 0.87 0.80 0.95 0.64 0.86

RNA isolation and sequencing (RNA-seq) and qRT-PCR

RNA was isolated from cell samples using the RNeasy Micro Kit (Qiagen) according to the manufacturer instructions. For each cell stage and condition analyzed between 0.1 and 1 × 106 cells were collected for RNA extraction. For qRT-PCR, cDNA synthesis was first performed using the iScript cDNA Synthesis Kit (Bio-Rad) and 500 ng of isolated RNA per reaction. qRT-PCR reactions were performed in triplicate with 10 ng of template cDNA per reaction using a CFX96 Real-Time PCR Detection System and the iQ SYBR Green Supermix (Bio-Rad). PCR of the TATA binding protein (TBP) coding sequence was used as an internal control and relative expression was quantified via double delta CT analysis. For RNA-seq, stranded, single-end sequencing libraries were constructed from isolated RNA using the TruSeq Stranded mRNA Library Prep Kit (Illumina) and library sequencing was performed on either a HiSeq 4000 System (Illumina) or NovaSeq 6000 System (Illumina) with single-end reads of either 50 or 75 base pairs (bp). Sequencing was performed by the Institute for Genomic Medicine (IGM) core research facility at the University of California at San Diego. A complete list of RT-qPCR primer sequences can be found below.

LAMA1 forward GTG ATG GCA ACA GCG CAA A
LAMA1 reverse GAC CCA GTG ATA TTC TCT CCC A
CRB2 forward ACC ACT GTG CTT GTC CTG AG
CRB2 reverse TCC AGG GTC GCT AGA TGG AG
PDX1 forward AAG TCT ACC AAA GCT CAC GCG
PDX1 reverse GTA GGC GCC GCC TGC
NKX6.1 forward CTG GCC TGT ACC CCT CAT CA
NKX6.1 reverse CTT CCC GTC TTT GTC CAA CA
PROX1 forward AAC ATG CAC TAC AAT AAA GCA AAT GAC
PROX1 reverse CAG GAA TCT CTC TGG AAC CTC AAA
PTF1A forward GAA GGT CAT CAT CTG CCA TC
PTF1A reverse GGC CAT AAT CAG GGT CGC T
SOX9 forward AGT ACC CGC ACT TGC ACA AC
SOX9 reverse ACT TGT AAT CCG GGT GGT CCT T
TBP forward TGT GCA CAG GAG CCA AGA GT
TBP reverse ATT TTC TTG CTG CCA GTC TGG

RNA-seq data analysis

Reads were mapped to the human genome consensus build (hg19/GRCh37) using the Spliced Transcripts Alignment to a Reference (STAR) aligner v2.4 (Dobin et al., 2013). Normalized gene expression (fragments per kilobase per million mapped reads; FPKM) for each sequence file was determined using Cufflinks v2.2.1 (Trapnell et al., 2010) with the parameters: --library-type fr-firststrand --max-bundle-frags 10000000. For all RNA-Seq experiments, replicates from two independent hESC differentiations were generated. Pearson correlations between bam files corresponding to each pair of replicates were calculated, and are as follow:

LAMA1Enh clone 1 PP2 1.00
LAMA1Enh clone 2 PP2 0.99
CRB2Enh clone 1 PP2 0.98
CRB2Enh clone 2 PP2 0.90
LAMA1Enh control PP2 0.92
CRB2Enh control PP2 0.99

Assay for transposase accessible chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq)

ATAC-seq (Buenrostro et al., 2013) was performed on approximately 50,000 nuclei. The samples were permeabilized in cold permeabilization buffer 0.2% IGEPAL-CA630 (I8896, Sigma), 1 mM DTT (D9779, Sigma), Protease inhibitor (05056489001, Roche), 5% BSA (A7906, Sigma) in PBS (10010–23, Thermo Fisher Scientific) for 10 min on the rotator in the cold room and centrifuged for 5 min at 500 × g at 4°C. The pellet was resuspended in cold tagmentation buffer (33 mM Tris-acetate (pH = 7.8) (BP-152, Thermo Fisher Scientific), 66 mM K-acetate (P5708, Sigma), 11 mM Mg-acetate (M2545, Sigma), 16% DMF (DX1730, EMD Millipore) in Molecular biology water (46000 CM, Corning)) and incubated with tagmentation enzyme (FC-121–1030; Illumina) at 37°C for 30 min with shaking at 500 rpm. The tagmented DNA was purified using MinElute PCR purification kit (28004, QIAGEN). Libraries were amplified using NEBNext High-Fidelity 2X PCR Master Mix (M0541, NEB) with primer extension at 72°C for 5 min, denaturation at 98°C for 30 s, followed by 8 cycles of denaturation at 98°C for 10 s, annealing at 63°C for 30 s and extension at 72°C for 60 s. After the purification of amplified libraries using MinElute PCR purification kit (28004, QIAGEN), double size selection was performed using SPRIselect bead (B23317, Beckman Coulter) with 0.55X beads and 1.5X to sample volume. Finally, libraries were sequenced on HiSeq4000 (Paired-end 50 cycles, Illumina).

ATAC-seq data analysis

ATAC-seq reads were mapped to the human genome (hg19/GRCh37) using Burrows-Wheeler Aligner (BWA) version 0.7.13 (Li and Durbin, 2009), and visualized using the UCSC Genome Browser (Kent et al., 2002). SAMtools (Li et al., 2009) was used to remove unmapped, low-quality (q < 15), and duplicate reads. MACS2 (Zhang et al., 2008) was used to call peaks, with parameters ‘shift set to 100 bps, smoothing window of 200 bps’ and with ‘nolambda’ and ‘nomodel’ flags on. MACS2 was also used to call ATAC-Seq summits, using the same parameters combined with the ‘call-summits’ flag.

For all ATAC-Seq experiments, replicates from two independent hESC differentiations were generated. Bam files for each pair of replicates were merged for downstream analysis using SAMtools, and Pearson correlations between bam files for each individual replicate were calculated over a set of peaks called from the merged bam file. Correlations were performed using the command multiBamSummary from the deepTools2 package (Ramírez et al., 2016) with the ‘—removeOutliers’ flag and are as follow:

ES 0.95
DE 0.83
GT 1.00
PP1 1.00
PP2 1.00

For downstream analysis, ATAC-seq peaks were merged from two independent differentiations for ES, DE, GT, PP1, and PP2 stage cells and from four donors for primary islets. Primary islet ATAC-seq data was obtained from previously published datasets (Greenwald et al., 2019).

Hi-C data analysis

Hi-C data were processed as previously described with some modifications (Dixon et al., 2015). Read pairs were aligned to the hg19 reference genome separately using BWA-MEM with default parameters (Li and Durbin, 2009). Specifically, chimeric reads were processed to keep only the 5’ position and reads with low mapping quality (<10) were filtered out. Read pairs were then paired using custom scripts. Picard tools were then used to remove PCR duplicates. Bam files with alignments were further processed into text format as required by Juicebox tools (Durand et al., 2016). Juicebox tools were then applied to generate hic files containing normalized contact matrices. All downstream analysis was based on 10 Kb resolution KR normalized matrices.

Chromatin loops were identified by comparing each pixel with its local background, as described previously (Rao et al., 2014) with some modifications. Specifically, only the donut region around the pixel was compared to model the expected count. Briefly, the KR-normalized contact matrices at 10 Kb resolution were used as input for loop calling. For each pixel, distance-corrected contact frequencies were calculated for each surrounding bin and the average of all surrounding bins. The expected counts were then transformed to raw counts by multiplying the counts with the raw-to-KR normalization factor. The probability of observing raw expected counts was calculated using Poisson distribution. All pixels with p-value<0.01 and distance less than 10 Kb were selected as candidate pixels. Candidate pixels were then filtered to remove pixels without any neighboring candidate pixels since they were likely false positives. Finally, pixels within 20 Kb of each other were collapsed and only the most significant pixel was selected. The collapsed pixels with p-value<1e-5 were used as the final list of chromatin loops.

A full set of scripts used for processing Hi-C data (Qiu, 2021) is available at https://github.com/MSanderlab/Pancreatic-progenitor-epigenome-maps-prioritize-type-2-diabetes-risk-genes-with-roles-in-development/tree/master (copy archived at swh:1:rev:ba79c687523c2696ea0ef30d8476e28a0d860f18).

Definition of chromatin states

We collected or generated H3K4me1, H3K27ac, H3K4me1, H3K4me3, H3K27me3, and CTCF ChIP-seq data at each developmental stage and in mature islets. Data corresponding to mature islets was downloaded from previously published studies (Bhandare et al., 2010; Parker et al., 2013; Pasquali et al., 2014). Sequence reads were mapped to the human genome hg19 using bwa (version 0.7.12) (Li and Durbin, 2009), and low quality and duplicate reads were filtered using samtools (version 1.3) (Li et al., 2009). Using these reads, we then called chromatin states jointly across all data using chromHMM (version 1.12) (Ernst and Kellis, 2012) and used a 10-state model and 200 bp bin size, as models with larger state numbers did not empirically resolve any additional informative states. We then assigned state names based on patterns defined by the NIH Epigenome Roadmap (Kundaje et al., 2015), which included active promoter/TssA (high H3K4me3, high H3K27ac), flanking TSS/TssFlnk1 (high H3K4me3), flanking TSS/TssFlnk 2 (high H3K4me3, high H3K27ac, high H3K4me1), bivalent Tss/TssBiv (high H3K27me3, high H3K4me3), poised enhancer/EnhP (high H3K4me1), insulator/CTCF (high CTCF), active enhancer/EnhA (high H3K27ac, high H3K4me1), repressor (high H3K27me3), and two quiescent (low signal for all assays) states. The state map with assigned names is shown in Figure 1—figure supplement 1A.

We next defined stretch enhancer elements at each developmental stage and in mature islets. For each active enhancer (EnhA) element, we determined the number of consecutive 200 bp bins covered by the enhancer. We then modeled the resulting bin counts for enhancers in each cell type using a Poisson distribution. Enhancers with a p-value less than. 001 were labeled as stretch enhancers and otherwise labeled as traditional enhancers.

Permutation-based significance

A random sampling approach (10,000 iterations) was used to obtain null distributions for enrichment analyses, in order to obtain p-values. Null distributions for enrichments were obtained by randomly shuffling enhancer regions using BEDTools (Quinlan and Hall, 2010) and overlapping with ATAC-seq peaks. p-values<0.05 were considered significant.

Assignment of enhancer target genes

Transcriptomes were filtered for genes expressed (FPKM ≥1) at each relevant stage, and BEDTools (Quinlan and Hall, 2010) was used to assign each enhancer to the nearest annotated TSS.

Gene ontology

All gene ontology analyses were performed using Metascape (Zhou et al., 2019) with default parameters.

Motif enrichment analysis

The findMotifsGenome.pl. command in HOMER (Heinz et al., 2010) was used to identify enriched transcription factor binding motifs. de novo motifs were assigned to transcription factors based on suggestions generated by HOMER.

T2D-relevant trait enrichment analysis

GWAS summary statistics for T2D (Mahajan et al., 2018; Perry et al., 2012), metabolic traits (HOMA-B, HOMA-IR [Dupuis et al., 2010], fasting glucose, fasting insulin [Manning et al., 2012], fasting proinsulin [Strawbridge et al., 2011], 2 hr glucose adjusted for BMI [Saxena et al., 2010], HbA1c, insulin secretion rate, disposition index, acute insulin response, peak insulin response [Wood et al., 2017]), and developmental traits (head circumference [Taal et al., 2012], birth length [van der Valk et al., 2015], birth weight [Horikoshi et al., 2016]) conducted with individuals of European ancestry were obtained from various sources including the MAGIC consortium, EGG consortium, and authors of the studies. Custom LD score annotation files were created for PSSE, PP2 stretch enhancers, and islet stretch enhancers using LD score regression version 1.0.1 (Bulik-Sullivan et al., 2015). Enrichments for GWAS trait-associated variants within PSSE, PP2 stretch enhancers, and islet stretch enhancers were estimated with stratified LD score regression (Finucane et al., 2015). We next determined enrichment in the proportion of variants in accessible chromatin sites within islet SE and PSSE with nominal association to beta cell-related glycemic traits. For each trait, we calculated a 2 × 2 table of variants mapping in and outside of islet SE or PSSE and with or without nominal association and then determined significance using a chi-square test.

Adipocyte differentiation analysis

Chromatin states for human adipose stromal cell (hASC) differentiation stages (1-4) were obtained from a published study (Varshney et al., 2017). PSSE were intersected with hASC chromatin states using BEDTools intersect (version 2.26.0) (Quinlan and Hall, 2010) with default parameters.

Identification of T2D risk loci intersecting PSSE

T2D GWAS summary statistics were obtained from the DIAMANTE consortium (Mahajan et al., 2018). Intersection of variants and PSSE was performed using BEDTools intersect (version 2.26.0) (Quinlan and Hall, 2010) with default parameters. The adjusted significance threshold was set at p<4.66 × 10−6 (Bonferroni correction for 10,738 variants mapping in PSSE). Putative novel loci were defined as those with (1) at least one variant in a PSSE reaching the adjusted significance threshold and (2) mapping at least 500 kb away from a known T2D locus.

ATAC-seq footprinting analysis

ATAC-seq footprinting was performed as previously described (Aylward et al., 2018). In brief, diploid genomes for CyT49 were created using vcf2diploid (version 0.2.6a) (Rozowsky et al., 2011) and genotypes called from whole genome sequencing and scanned for a compiled database of TF sequence motifs from JASPAR (Mathelier et al., 2016) and ENCODE (ENCODE Project Consortium, 2012) with FIMO (version 4.12.0) (Grant et al., 2011) using default parameters for p-value threshold and a 40.9% GC content based on the hg19 human reference genome. Footprints within ATAC-seq peaks were discovered with CENTIPEDE (version 1.2) (Pique-Regi et al., 2011) using cut-site matrices containing Tn5 integration counts within a ± 100 bp window around each motif occurrence. Footprints were defined as those with a posterior probability ≥0.99.

Generation of similarity matrices for total transcriptomes

For each replicate, FPKM values corresponding to total transcriptome were filtered for genes expressed (FPKM ≥1) in ≥1 replicate. For expressed genes, log(FPKM+1) values were used to calculate Pearson correlations.

Immunofluorescence analysis

Cell aggregates derived from hESCs were allowed to settle in microcentrifuge tubes and washed twice with PBS before fixation with 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA) for 30 min at room temperature. Fixed samples were washed twice with PBS and incubated overnight at 4°C in 30% (w/v) sucrose in PBS. Samples were then loaded into disposable embedding molds (VWR), covered in Tissue-Tek O.C.T. Sakura Finetek compound (VWR) and flash frozen on dry ice to prepare frozen blocks. The blocks were sectioned at 10 µm and sections were placed on Superfrost Plus (Thermo Fisher) microscope slides and washed with PBS for 10 min. Slide-mounted cell sections were permeabilized and blocked with blocking buffer, consisting of 0.15% (v/v) Triton X-100 (Sigma) and 1% (v/v) normal donkey serum (Jackson Immuno Research Laboratories) in PBS, for 1 hr at room temperature. Slides were then incubated overnight at 4°C with primary antibody solutions. The following day slides were washed five times with PBS and incubated for 1 hr at room temperature with secondary antibody solutions. Cells were washed five times with PBS before coverslips were applied.

All antibodies were diluted in blocking buffer at the ratios indicated below. Primary antibodies used were goat anti-PDX1 (1:500 dilution, Abcam ab47383), mouse anti-NKX6.1 (1:300 dilution, Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank F64A6B4), rabbit anti-Laminin (1:30, Sigma L-9393), and rabbit anti-CRB2 (1:500, Sigma SAB1301340). Secondary antibodies against goat and mouse were Alexa488- and Cy3-conjugated donkey antibodies, respectively (Jackson Immuno Research Laboratories 705-545-003 and 715-165-150, respectively), and were used at dilutions of 1:500 (anti-goat Alexa488) or 1:1000 (anti-mouse Cy3). Cell nuclei were stained with Hoechst 33342 (1:3000, Invitrogen). Representative images were obtained with a Zeiss Axio-Observer-Z1 microscope equipped with a Zeiss ApoTome and AxioCam digital camera. Figures were prepared in Adobe Creative Suite 5.

Flow cytometry analysis

Cell aggregates derived from hESCs were allowed to settle in microcentrifuge tubes and washed with PBS. Cell aggregates were incubated with Accutase at room temperature until a single-cell suspension was obtained. Cells were washed with 1 mL ice-cold flow buffer comprised of 0.2% BSA in PBS and centrifuged at 200 g for 5 min. BD Cytofix/Cytoperm Plus Fixation/Permeabilization Solution Kit was used to fix and stain cells for flow cytometry according to the manufacturer's instructions. Briefly, cell pellets were re-suspended in ice-cold BD Fixation/Permeabilization solution (300 µL per microcentrifuge tube). Cells were incubated for 20 min at 4°C. Cells were washed twice with 1 mL ice-cold 1 × BD Perm/Wash Buffer and centrifuged at 10°C and 200 × g for 5 min. Cells were re-suspended in 50 µL ice-cold 1 × BD Perm/Wash Buffer containing diluted antibodies, for each staining performed. Cells were incubated at 4°C in the dark for 1–3 hr. Cells were washed with 1.25 mL ice-cold 1X BD Wash Buffer and centrifuged at 200 × g for 5 min. Cell pellets were re-suspended in 300 µL ice-cold flow buffer and analyzed in a FACSCanto II (BD Biosciences). Antibodies used were PE-conjugated anti-PDX1 (1:10 dilution, BD Biosciences); and AlexaFluor 647-conjugated anti-NKX6.1 (1:5 dilution, BD Biosciences). Data were processed using FlowJo software v10.

Whole mount immunohistochemistry

Zebrafish larvae were fixed and stained according to published protocols (Lancman et al., 2013) using the following antibodies: chicken anti-GFP (1:200; Aves Labs; GFP-1020), guinea pig anti-insulin (1:200; Biomeda; v2024), mouse anti-Crb2a (1:100; ZIRC; zs-4), rabbit anti-panCrb (1:100; provided by Dr. Abbie M. Jensen at University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Hsu and Jensen, 2010), rabbit anti-Laminin (1:100; Sigma;L9393), mouse anti-Nkx6.1 (1:10; DSHB; F55A10), and DAPI (1:200; 500 mg/ml, Invitrogen; D1306).

Imaging and quantification of beta cell numbers in zebrafish

To quantify beta cell numbers, 50 and 78 hpf zebrafish larvae were stained for confocal imaging using DAPI and guinea pig anti-insulin antibody (1:200; Biomeda; v2024). Whole mount fluorescent confocal Z-stacks (0.9 μm steps) images were collected for the entire islet with optical slices captured at a focal depth of 1.8 μm. Samples were imaged using a Zeiss 710 confocal microscope running Zen 2010 (Black) software. Final images were generated using Adobe Photoshop CS6 and/or ImageJ64 (vs.1.48b).

Data sources

The following datasets used in this study were downloaded from the GEO and ArrayExpress repositories:

RNA-seq: Pancreatic differentiation of CyT49 hESC line (E-MTAB-1086); primary islet data (GSE115327).

ChIP-seq: H3K27ac data in primary islets (E-MTAB-1919 and GSE51311); H3K27ac data in pancreatic differentiation of CyT49 hESC line (GSE54471); H3K4me1 data in pancreatic differentiation of CyT49 hESC line (GSE54471); H3K4me1 data in primary islets (E-MTAB-1919 and E-MTAB 189); H3K27me3 and H3K4me3 in pancreatic differentiation of CyT49 hESC line (E-MTAB-1086); H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 in primary islets (E-MTAB-189); CTCF in primary islets (E-MTAB-1919); PDX1 in CyT49 PP2 (GSE54471); samples from ROADMAP consortium: http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/roadmap/epigenomics.

ATAC-seq: primary islet data (PRJN527099); CyT49 PP2 (GSE115327).

Hi-C datasets were generated in collaboration with the Ren laboratory at University of California, San Diego as a component of the 4D Nucleome Project (Dekker et al., 2017) under accession number 4DNES0LVRKBM.

Quantification and statistical analyses

Statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism (v8.1.2), and R (v3.6.1). Statistical parameters, such as the value of n, mean, standard deviation (SD), standard error of the mean (SEM), significance level (*p<0.05, **p<0.01, and ***p<0.001), and the statistical tests used, are reported in the figures and figure legends. The ‘n’ refers to the number of independent pancreatic differentiation experiments analyzed (biological replicates).

Statistically significant gene expression changes were determined with DESeq2 (Love et al., 2014).

Acknowledgements

We thank Ileana Matta for assistance with ATAC-seq assays and library preparations, as well as the Sander and Gaulton laboratories for helpful discussions. We also thank Dr. Abbie Jensen at University of Massachusetts, Amherst for the anti-panCrb antibody. We acknowledge support of the UCSD Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core for cell sorting, as well as K Jepsen and the UCSD Institute for Genomic Medicine for library preparation and sequencing. This work was supported by NIH grants T32 GM008666 (RJG), P30 DK064391 (KJ, MS), R01 DK068471 (MS), 1DP2DK098092 (PDSD), and U01 DK105541 (MS, BR, PDSD); as well as the WM Keck Foundation 2017–01 (PDSD), and Diabetes Research Connection Project #08 (JJL)

Funding Statement

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Contributor Information

Kyle J Gaulton, Email: kgaulton@health.ucsd.edu.

Maike Sander, Email: masander@ucsd.edu.

Mone Zaidi, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, United States.

Matthias Barton, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Funding Information

This paper was supported by the following grants:

  • National Institutes of Health T32 GM008666 to Ryan J Geusz.

  • National Institutes of Health P30 DK064391 to Kyle J Gaulton, Maike Sander.

  • National Institutes of Health R01 DK068471 to Maike Sander.

  • National Institutes of Health U01 DK105541 to Bing Ren, P Duc Si Dong, Maike Sander.

  • National Institutes of Health 1DP2DK098092 to P Duc Si Dong.

  • W.M. Keck Foundation 2017-01 to P Duc Si Dong.

  • Diabetes Research Connection Project #08 to Joseph J Lancman.

Additional information

Competing interests

No competing interests declared.

This author consults for Genentech.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Validation, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review and editing.

Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Validation, Investigation, Writing - review and editing.

Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Validation, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review and editing.

Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review and editing.

Data curation.

Data curation, Writing - review and editing.

Data curation.

Formal analysis.

Data curation.

Formal analysis.

Supervision, Funding acquisition.

Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review and editing.

Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Writing - original draft, Writing - review and editing.

Conceptualization, Resources, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Writing - original draft, Project administration, Writing - review and editing.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: Adult zebrafish and embryos were cared for and maintained under standard conditions. All research activity involving zebrafish was reviewed and approved by SBP Medical Discovery Institute Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee under protocol #18-014. hESC research was approved by the University of California, San Diego, Institutional Review Board and Embryonic Stem Cell Research oversight committee under project #090165ZX.

Additional files

Transparent reporting form

Data availability

All mRNA-seq, ChIP-seq, and ATAC-seq datasets generated for this study have been deposited at GEO under the accession number GSE149148. Source data files have been provided for Figures 2, 4, and 5.

The following dataset was generated:

Geusz RJ, Wang A, Chiou J, Lancman JJ, Wetton N, Kefalopoulou S, Wang J, Qiu Y, Yan J, Aylward A, Ren B, Si Dong PD, Gaulton KJ, Sander M. 2021. Pancreatic progenitor epigenome maps prioritize type 2 diabetes risk genes with roles in development. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE149148

The following previously published datasets were used:

Xie R, Everett LJ, Lim HW, Patel NA, Schug J, Kroon E, Kelly OG, Wang A, D'Amour KA, Robins AJ, Won KJ, Kaestner KH, Sander M. 2013. ChIP-seq and RNA-seq of coding RNA of the progression of human embryonic stem cells to beta cells to characterize the epigenetic programs that underlie pancreas differentiation. ArrayExpress. E-MTAB-1086

Jin W, Mulas F, Gaertner B, Sui Y, Wang J, Matta I, Zeng C, Vinckier N, Wang A, Nguyen-Ngoc K, Chiou J, Kaestner KH, Frazer KA, Carrano AC, Shih H. 2019. Identification of microRNA-dependent gene regulatory networks driving human pancreatic endocrine cell differentiation. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE115327

Pasquali L, Gaulton KJ, Rodríguez-Seguí SA, Mularoni L, Miguel-Escalada I, Akerman I, Tena JJ, Morán I, Gómez-Marín C, van de Bunt M, Ponsa-Cobas J, Castro N, Nammo T, Cebola I, García-Hurtado J, Maestro MA, Pattou F, Piemonti L, Berney T, Gloyn AL, Ravassard P, Gómez-Skarmeta JL, Müller F, McCarthy MI, Ferrer J. 2014. Pancreatic islet epigenomics reveals enhancer clusters that are enriched in Type 2 diabetes risk variants. ArrayExpress. E-MTAB-1919

Parker SC, Stitzel ML, Taylor DL, Orozco JM. 2013. Chromatin stretch enhancer states drive cell-specific gene regulation and harbor human disease risk variants (ChIP-seq) NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE51311

Wang A, Yue F, Li Y, Xie R. 2015. Developmental Competence Encoded at the Level of Enhancers. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE54471

Bhandare R, Schug J, Lay JL, Fox A, Smirnova O, Liu C, Naji A, Kaestner KH. 2010. ChIP-Seq of human normal pancreatic islets with anti-histone antibodies to analyse histone modifications. ArrayExpress. E-MTAB-189

University of California San Diego 2015. ATAC-seq in pancreatic islet cells. NCBI BioProject. PRJNA527099

4DN Network. Ren Laboratory 2020. Replicates of Hi-C on CyT49 cells differentiated to pancreatic endoderm. 4D Nucleome. Sample4DNES0LVRKBM

Lister R, Pelizzola M, Dowen RH, Hawkins RD, Hon G, Tonti-Filippini J, Nery JR, Lee L, Ye Z, Ngo Q, Edsall L, Antosiewicz-Bourget J, Stewart R, Ruotti V, Millar AH, Thomson JA, Ren B, Ecker JR. 2009. UCSD Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Projec. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE16256

Bernstein BE, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Costello JF, Ren B, Milosavljevic A, Meissner A, Kellis M, Marra MA, Beaudet AL, Ecker JR, Farnham PJ, Hirst M, Lander ES, Mikkelsen TJ, Thomson JA. 2010. UCSF-UBC Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Project. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE16368

Bernstein BE, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Costello JF, Ren B, Milosavljevic A, Meissner A, Kellis M, Marra MA, Beaudet AL, Ecker JR, Farnham PJ, Hirst M, Lander ES, Mikkelsen TJ, Thomson JA. 2009. BI Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Project. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE17312

Bernstein BE, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Costello JF, Ren B, Milosavljevic A, Meissner A, Kellis M, Marra MA, Beaudet AL, Ecker JR, Farnham PJ, Hirst M, Lander ES, Mikkelsen TJ, Thomson JA. 2010. University of Washington Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Project. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE18927

References

  1. Ahnfelt-Rønne J, Ravassard P, Pardanaud-Glavieux C, Scharfmann R, Serup P. Mesenchymal bone morphogenetic protein signaling is required for normal pancreas development. Diabetes. 2010;59:1948–1956. doi: 10.2337/db09-1010. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Alves CH, Bossers K, Vos RM, Essing AH, Swagemakers S, van der Spek PJ, Verhaagen J, Wijnholds J. Microarray and morphological analysis of early postnatal CRB2 mutant retinas on a pure C57BL/6J genetic background. PLOS ONE. 2013;8:e82532. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082532. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Aylward A, Chiou J, Okino M-L, Kadakia N, Gaulton KJ. Shared genetic risk contributes to type 1 and type 2 diabetes etiology. Human Molecular Genetics. 2018;7:314. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddy314. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bhandare R, Schug J, Le Lay J, Fox A, Smirnova O, Liu C, Naji A, Kaestner KH. Genome-wide analysis of histone modifications in human pancreatic islets. Genome Research. 2010;20:428–433. doi: 10.1101/gr.102038.109. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Buenrostro JD, Giresi PG, Zaba LC, Chang HY, Greenleaf WJ. Transposition of native chromatin for fast and sensitive epigenomic profiling of open chromatin, DNA-binding proteins and nucleosome position. Nature Methods. 2013;10:1213–1218. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.2688. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bulgakova NA, Knust E. The crumbs complex: from epithelial-cell polarity to retinal degeneration. Journal of Cell Science. 2009;122:2587–2596. doi: 10.1242/jcs.023648. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Bulik-Sullivan BK, Loh PR, Finucane HK, Ripke S, Yang J, Patterson N, Daly MJ, Price AL, Neale BM, Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium LD score regression distinguishes confounding from polygenicity in genome-wide association studies. Nature Genetics. 2015;47:291–295. doi: 10.1038/ng.3211. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Cebola I, Rodríguez-Seguí SA, Cho CH, Bessa J, Rovira M, Luengo M, Chhatriwala M, Berry A, Ponsa-Cobas J, Maestro MA, Jennings RE, Pasquali L, Morán I, Castro N, Hanley NA, Gomez-Skarmeta JL, Vallier L, Ferrer J. TEAD and YAP regulate the enhancer network of human embryonic pancreatic progenitors. Nature Cell Biology. 2015;17:615–626. doi: 10.1038/ncb3160. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Chiou J, Zeng C, Cheng Z, Han JY, Schlichting M, Huang S, Wang J, Sui Y, Deogaygay A, Okino M-L, Qiu Y, Sun Y, Kudtarkar P, Fang R, Preissl S, Sander M, Gorkin D, Gaulton KJ. Single cell chromatin accessibility reveals pancreatic islet cell type- and state-specific regulatory programs of diabetes risk. bioRxiv. 2019 doi: 10.1101/693671. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
  10. Claussnitzer M, Dankel SN, Klocke B, Grallert H, Glunk V, Berulava T, Lee H, Oskolkov N, Fadista J, Ehlers K, Wahl S, Hoffmann C, Qian K, Rönn T, Riess H, Müller-Nurasyid M, Bretschneider N, Schroeder T, Skurk T, Horsthemke B, Spieler D, Klingenspor M, Seifert M, Kern MJ, Mejhert N, Dahlman I, Hansson O, Hauck SM, Blüher M, Arner P, Groop L, Illig T, Suhre K, Hsu YH, Mellgren G, Hauner H, Laumen H, DIAGRAM+Consortium Leveraging cross-species transcription factor binding site patterns: from diabetes risk loci to disease mechanisms. Cell. 2014;156:343–358. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.10.058. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Conrad E, Stein R, Hunter CS. Revealing transcription factors during human pancreatic β cell development. Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2014;25:407–414. doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2014.03.013. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Dekker J, Belmont AS, Guttman M, Leshyk VO, Lis JT, Lomvardas S, Mirny LA, O'Shea CC, Park PJ, Ren B, Politz JCR, Shendure J, Zhong S, 4D Nucleome Network The 4D nucleome project. Nature. 2017;549:219–226. doi: 10.1038/nature23884. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Dixon JR, Jung I, Selvaraj S, Shen Y, Antosiewicz-Bourget JE, Lee AY, Ye Z, Kim A, Rajagopal N, Xie W, Diao Y, Liang J, Zhao H, Lobanenkov VV, Ecker JR, Thomson JA, Ren B. Chromatin architecture reorganization during stem cell differentiation. Nature. 2015;518:331–336. doi: 10.1038/nature14222. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Dobin A, Davis CA, Schlesinger F, Drenkow J, Zaleski C, Jha S, Batut P, Chaisson M, Gingeras TR. STAR: ultrafast universal RNA-seq aligner. Bioinformatics. 2013;29:15–21. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/bts635. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Dong PD, Provost E, Leach SD, Stainier DY. Graded levels of Ptf1a differentially regulate endocrine and exocrine fates in the developing pancreas. Genes & Development. 2008;22:1445–1450. doi: 10.1101/gad.1663208. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Dudok JJ, Murtaza M, Henrique Alves C, Rashbass P, Wijnholds J. Crumbs 2 prevents cortical abnormalities in mouse dorsal telencephalon. Neuroscience Research. 2016;108:12–23. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2016.01.001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Dupuis J, Langenberg C, Prokopenko I, Saxena R, Soranzo N, Jackson AU, Wheeler E, Glazer NL, Bouatia-Naji N, Gloyn AL, Lindgren CM, Mägi R, Morris AP, Randall J, Johnson T, Elliott P, Rybin D, Thorleifsson G, Steinthorsdottir V, Henneman P, Grallert H, Dehghan A, Hottenga JJ, Franklin CS, Navarro P, Song K, Goel A, Perry JR, Egan JM, Lajunen T, Grarup N, Sparsø T, Doney A, Voight BF, Stringham HM, Li M, Kanoni S, Shrader P, Cavalcanti-Proença C, Kumari M, Qi L, Timpson NJ, Gieger C, Zabena C, Rocheleau G, Ingelsson E, An P, O'Connell J, Luan J, Elliott A, McCarroll SA, Payne F, Roccasecca RM, Pattou F, Sethupathy P, Ardlie K, Ariyurek Y, Balkau B, Barter P, Beilby JP, Ben-Shlomo Y, Benediktsson R, Bennett AJ, Bergmann S, Bochud M, Boerwinkle E, Bonnefond A, Bonnycastle LL, Borch-Johnsen K, Böttcher Y, Brunner E, Bumpstead SJ, Charpentier G, Chen YD, Chines P, Clarke R, Coin LJ, Cooper MN, Cornelis M, Crawford G, Crisponi L, Day IN, de Geus EJ, Delplanque J, Dina C, Erdos MR, Fedson AC, Fischer-Rosinsky A, Forouhi NG, Fox CS, Frants R, Franzosi MG, Galan P, Goodarzi MO, Graessler J, Groves CJ, Grundy S, Gwilliam R, Gyllensten U, Hadjadj S, Hallmans G, Hammond N, Han X, Hartikainen AL, Hassanali N, Hayward C, Heath SC, Hercberg S, Herder C, Hicks AA, Hillman DR, Hingorani AD, Hofman A, Hui J, Hung J, Isomaa B, Johnson PR, Jørgensen T, Jula A, Kaakinen M, Kaprio J, Kesaniemi YA, Kivimaki M, Knight B, Koskinen S, Kovacs P, Kyvik KO, Lathrop GM, Lawlor DA, Le Bacquer O, Lecoeur C, Li Y, Lyssenko V, Mahley R, Mangino M, Manning AK, Martínez-Larrad MT, McAteer JB, McCulloch LJ, McPherson R, Meisinger C, Melzer D, Meyre D, Mitchell BD, Morken MA, Mukherjee S, Naitza S, Narisu N, Neville MJ, Oostra BA, Orrù M, Pakyz R, Palmer CN, Paolisso G, Pattaro C, Pearson D, Peden JF, Pedersen NL, Perola M, Pfeiffer AF, Pichler I, Polasek O, Posthuma D, Potter SC, Pouta A, Province MA, Psaty BM, Rathmann W, Rayner NW, Rice K, Ripatti S, Rivadeneira F, Roden M, Rolandsson O, Sandbaek A, Sandhu M, Sanna S, Sayer AA, Scheet P, Scott LJ, Seedorf U, Sharp SJ, Shields B, Sigurethsson G, Sijbrands EJ, Silveira A, Simpson L, Singleton A, Smith NL, Sovio U, Swift A, Syddall H, Syvänen AC, Tanaka T, Thorand B, Tichet J, Tönjes A, Tuomi T, Uitterlinden AG, van Dijk KW, van Hoek M, Varma D, Visvikis-Siest S, Vitart V, Vogelzangs N, Waeber G, Wagner PJ, Walley A, Walters GB, Ward KL, Watkins H, Weedon MN, Wild SH, Willemsen G, Witteman JC, Yarnell JW, Zeggini E, Zelenika D, Zethelius B, Zhai G, Zhao JH, Zillikens MC, Borecki IB, Loos RJ, Meneton P, Magnusson PK, Nathan DM, Williams GH, Hattersley AT, Silander K, Salomaa V, Smith GD, Bornstein SR, Schwarz P, Spranger J, Karpe F, Shuldiner AR, Cooper C, Dedoussis GV, Serrano-Ríos M, Morris AD, Lind L, Palmer LJ, Hu FB, Franks PW, Ebrahim S, Marmot M, Kao WH, Pankow JS, Sampson MJ, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Hansen T, Pedersen O, Pramstaller PP, Wichmann HE, Illig T, Rudan I, Wright AF, Stumvoll M, Campbell H, Wilson JF, Bergman RN, Buchanan TA, Collins FS, Mohlke KL, Tuomilehto J, Valle TT, Altshuler D, Rotter JI, Siscovick DS, Penninx BW, Boomsma DI, Deloukas P, Spector TD, Frayling TM, Ferrucci L, Kong A, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson K, van Duijn CM, Aulchenko YS, Cao A, Scuteri A, Schlessinger D, Uda M, Ruokonen A, Jarvelin MR, Waterworth DM, Vollenweider P, Peltonen L, Mooser V, Abecasis GR, Wareham NJ, Sladek R, Froguel P, Watanabe RM, Meigs JB, Groop L, Boehnke M, McCarthy MI, Florez JC, Barroso I, DIAGRAM Consortium. GIANT Consortium. Global BPgen Consortium. Anders Hamsten on behalf of Procardis Consortium. MAGIC investigators New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact on type 2 diabetes risk. Nature Genetics. 2010;42:105–116. doi: 10.1038/ng.520. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Durand NC, Robinson JT, Shamim MS, Machol I, Mesirov JP, Lander ES, Aiden EL. Juicebox provides a visualization system for Hi-C contact maps with unlimited zoom. Cell Systems. 2016;3:99–101. doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2015.07.012. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. ENCODE Project Consortium An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human genome. Nature. 2012;489:57–74. doi: 10.1038/nature11247. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Ernst J, Kellis M. ChromHMM: automating chromatin-state discovery and characterization. Nature Methods. 2012;9:215–216. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.1906. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Field HA, Dong PD, Beis D, Stainier DY. Formation of the digestive system in zebrafish II pancreas morphogenesis. Developmental Biology. 2003;261:197–208. doi: 10.1016/S0012-1606(03)00308-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Finucane HK, Bulik-Sullivan B, Gusev A, Trynka G, Reshef Y, Loh PR, Anttila V, Xu H, Zang C, Farh K, Ripke S, Day FR, Purcell S, Stahl E, Lindstrom S, Perry JR, Okada Y, Raychaudhuri S, Daly MJ, Patterson N, Neale BM, Price AL, ReproGen Consortium. Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. RACI Consortium Partitioning heritability by functional annotation using genome-wide association summary statistics. Nature Genetics. 2015;47:1228–1235. doi: 10.1038/ng.3404. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Flannick J, Mercader JM, Fuchsberger C, Udler MS, Mahajan A, Wessel J, Teslovich TM, Caulkins L, Koesterer R, Barajas-Olmos F, Blackwell TW, Boerwinkle E, Brody JA, Centeno-Cruz F, Chen L, Chen S, Contreras-Cubas C, Córdova E, Correa A, Cortes M, DeFronzo RA, Dolan L, Drews KL, Elliott A, Floyd JS, Gabriel S, Garay-Sevilla ME, García-Ortiz H, Gross M, Han S, Heard-Costa NL, Jackson AU, Jørgensen ME, Kang HM, Kelsey M, Kim BJ, Koistinen HA, Kuusisto J, Leader JB, Linneberg A, Liu CT, Liu J, Lyssenko V, Manning AK, Marcketta A, Malacara-Hernandez JM, Martínez-Hernández A, Matsuo K, Mayer-Davis E, Mendoza-Caamal E, Mohlke KL, Morrison AC, Ndungu A, Ng MCY, O'Dushlaine C, Payne AJ, Pihoker C, Post WS, Preuss M, Psaty BM, Vasan RS, Rayner NW, Reiner AP, Revilla-Monsalve C, Robertson NR, Santoro N, Schurmann C, So WY, Soberón X, Stringham HM, Strom TM, Tam CHT, Thameem F, Tomlinson B, Torres JM, Tracy RP, van Dam RM, Vujkovic M, Wang S, Welch RP, Witte DR, Wong TY, Atzmon G, Barzilai N, Blangero J, Bonnycastle LL, Bowden DW, Chambers JC, Chan E, Cheng CY, Cho YS, Collins FS, de Vries PS, Duggirala R, Glaser B, Gonzalez C, Gonzalez ME, Groop L, Kooner JS, Kwak SH, Laakso M, Lehman DM, Nilsson P, Spector TD, Tai ES, Tuomi T, Tuomilehto J, Wilson JG, Aguilar-Salinas CA, Bottinger E, Burke B, Carey DJ, Chan JCN, Dupuis J, Frossard P, Heckbert SR, Hwang MY, Kim YJ, Kirchner HL, Lee JY, Lee J, Loos RJF, Ma RCW, Morris AD, O'Donnell CJ, Palmer CNA, Pankow J, Park KS, Rasheed A, Saleheen D, Sim X, Small KS, Teo YY, Haiman C, Hanis CL, Henderson BE, Orozco L, Tusié-Luna T, Dewey FE, Baras A, Gieger C, Meitinger T, Strauch K, Lange L, Grarup N, Hansen T, Pedersen O, Zeitler P, Dabelea D, Abecasis G, Bell GI, Cox NJ, Seielstad M, Sladek R, Meigs JB, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Altshuler D, Burtt NP, Scott LJ, Morris AP, Florez JC, McCarthy MI, Boehnke M, Broad Genomics Platform. DiscovEHR Collaboration. CHARGE. LuCamp. ProDiGY. GoT2D. ESP. SIGMA-T2D. T2D-GENES. AMP-T2D-GENES Exome sequencing of 20,791 cases of type 2 diabetes and 24,440 controls. Nature. 2019;570:71–76. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1231-2. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Fuchsberger C, Flannick J, Teslovich TM, Mahajan A, Agarwala V, Gaulton KJ, Ma C, Fontanillas P, Moutsianas L, McCarthy DJ, Rivas MA, Perry JRB, Sim X, Blackwell TW, Robertson NR, Rayner NW, Cingolani P, Locke AE, Tajes JF, Highland HM, Dupuis J, Chines PS, Lindgren CM, Hartl C, Jackson AU, Chen H, Huyghe JR, van de Bunt M, Pearson RD, Kumar A, Müller-Nurasyid M, Grarup N, Stringham HM, Gamazon ER, Lee J, Chen Y, Scott RA, Below JE, Chen P, Huang J, Go MJ, Stitzel ML, Pasko D, Parker SCJ, Varga TV, Green T, Beer NL, Day-Williams AG, Ferreira T, Fingerlin T, Horikoshi M, Hu C, Huh I, Ikram MK, Kim BJ, Kim Y, Kim YJ, Kwon MS, Lee J, Lee S, Lin KH, Maxwell TJ, Nagai Y, Wang X, Welch RP, Yoon J, Zhang W, Barzilai N, Voight BF, Han BG, Jenkinson CP, Kuulasmaa T, Kuusisto J, Manning A, Ng MCY, Palmer ND, Balkau B, Stančáková A, Abboud HE, Boeing H, Giedraitis V, Prabhakaran D, Gottesman O, Scott J, Carey J, Kwan P, Grant G, Smith JD, Neale BM, Purcell S, Butterworth AS, Howson JMM, Lee HM, Lu Y, Kwak SH, Zhao W, Danesh J, Lam VKL, Park KS, Saleheen D, So WY, Tam CHT, Afzal U, Aguilar D, Arya R, Aung T, Chan E, Navarro C, Cheng CY, Palli D, Correa A, Curran JE, Rybin D, Farook VS, Fowler SP, Freedman BI, Griswold M, Hale DE, Hicks PJ, Khor CC, Kumar S, Lehne B, Thuillier D, Lim WY, Liu J, van der Schouw YT, Loh M, Musani SK, Puppala S, Scott WR, Yengo L, Tan ST, Taylor HA, Thameem F, Wilson G, Wong TY, Njølstad PR, Levy JC, Mangino M, Bonnycastle LL, Schwarzmayr T, Fadista J, Surdulescu GL, Herder C, Groves CJ, Wieland T, Bork-Jensen J, Brandslund I, Christensen C, Koistinen HA, Doney ASF, Kinnunen L, Esko T, Farmer AJ, Hakaste L, Hodgkiss D, Kravic J, Lyssenko V, Hollensted M, Jørgensen ME, Jørgensen T, Ladenvall C, Justesen JM, Käräjämäki A, Kriebel J, Rathmann W, Lannfelt L, Lauritzen T, Narisu N, Linneberg A, Melander O, Milani L, Neville M, Orho-Melander M, Qi L, Qi Q, Roden M, Rolandsson O, Swift A, Rosengren AH, Stirrups K, Wood AR, Mihailov E, Blancher C, Carneiro MO, Maguire J, Poplin R, Shakir K, Fennell T, DePristo M, de Angelis MH, Deloukas P, Gjesing AP, Jun G, Nilsson P, Murphy J, Onofrio R, Thorand B, Hansen T, Meisinger C, Hu FB, Isomaa B, Karpe F, Liang L, Peters A, Huth C, O'Rahilly SP, Palmer CNA, Pedersen O, Rauramaa R, Tuomilehto J, Salomaa V, Watanabe RM, Syvänen AC, Bergman RN, Bharadwaj D, Bottinger EP, Cho YS, Chandak GR, Chan JCN, Chia KS, Daly MJ, Ebrahim SB, Langenberg C, Elliott P, Jablonski KA, Lehman DM, Jia W, Ma RCW, Pollin TI, Sandhu M, Tandon N, Froguel P, Barroso I, Teo YY, Zeggini E, Loos RJF, Small KS, Ried JS, DeFronzo RA, Grallert H, Glaser B, Metspalu A, Wareham NJ, Walker M, Banks E, Gieger C, Ingelsson E, Im HK, Illig T, Franks PW, Buck G, Trakalo J, Buck D, Prokopenko I, Mägi R, Lind L, Farjoun Y, Owen KR, Gloyn AL, Strauch K, Tuomi T, Kooner JS, Lee JY, Park T, Donnelly P, Morris AD, Hattersley AT, Bowden DW, Collins FS, Atzmon G, Chambers JC, Spector TD, Laakso M, Strom TM, Bell GI, Blangero J, Duggirala R, Tai ES, McVean G, Hanis CL, Wilson JG, Seielstad M, Frayling TM, Meigs JB, Cox NJ, Sladek R, Lander ES, Gabriel S, Burtt NP, Mohlke KL, Meitinger T, Groop L, Abecasis G, Florez JC, Scott LJ, Morris AP, Kang HM, Boehnke M, Altshuler D, McCarthy MI. The genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes. Nature. 2016;536:41–47. doi: 10.1038/nature18642. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Gaertner B, Carrano AC, Sander M. Human stem cell models: lessons for pancreatic development and disease. Genes & Development. 2019;33:1475–1490. doi: 10.1101/gad.331397.119. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Gaulton KJ, Nammo T, Pasquali L, Simon JM, Giresi PG, Fogarty MP, Panhuis TM, Mieczkowski P, Secchi A, Bosco D, Berney T, Montanya E, Mohlke KL, Lieb JD, Ferrer J. A map of open chromatin in human pancreatic islets. Nature Genetics. 2010;42:255–259. doi: 10.1038/ng.530. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Gaulton KJ, Ferreira T, Lee Y, Raimondo A, Mägi R, Reschen ME, Mahajan A, Locke A, Rayner NW, Robertson N, Scott RA, Prokopenko I, Scott LJ, Green T, Sparso T, Thuillier D, Yengo L, Grallert H, Wahl S, Frånberg M, Strawbridge RJ, Kestler H, Chheda H, Eisele L, Gustafsson S, Steinthorsdottir V, Thorleifsson G, Qi L, Karssen LC, van Leeuwen EM, Willems SM, Li M, Chen H, Fuchsberger C, Kwan P, Ma C, Linderman M, Lu Y, Thomsen SK, Rundle JK, Beer NL, van de Bunt M, Chalisey A, Kang HM, Voight BF, Abecasis GR, Almgren P, Baldassarre D, Balkau B, Benediktsson R, Blüher M, Boeing H, Bonnycastle LL, Bottinger EP, Burtt NP, Carey J, Charpentier G, Chines PS, Cornelis MC, Couper DJ, Crenshaw AT, van Dam RM, Doney AS, Dorkhan M, Edkins S, Eriksson JG, Esko T, Eury E, Fadista J, Flannick J, Fontanillas P, Fox C, Franks PW, Gertow K, Gieger C, Gigante B, Gottesman O, Grant GB, Grarup N, Groves CJ, Hassinen M, Have CT, Herder C, Holmen OL, Hreidarsson AB, Humphries SE, Hunter DJ, Jackson AU, Jonsson A, Jørgensen ME, Jørgensen T, Kao WH, Kerrison ND, Kinnunen L, Klopp N, Kong A, Kovacs P, Kraft P, Kravic J, Langford C, Leander K, Liang L, Lichtner P, Lindgren CM, Lindholm E, Linneberg A, Liu CT, Lobbens S, Luan J, Lyssenko V, Männistö S, McLeod O, Meyer J, Mihailov E, Mirza G, Mühleisen TW, Müller-Nurasyid M, Navarro C, Nöthen MM, Oskolkov NN, Owen KR, Palli D, Pechlivanis S, Peltonen L, Perry JR, Platou CG, Roden M, Ruderfer D, Rybin D, van der Schouw YT, Sennblad B, Sigurðsson G, Stančáková A, Steinbach G, Storm P, Strauch K, Stringham HM, Sun Q, Thorand B, Tikkanen E, Tonjes A, Trakalo J, Tremoli E, Tuomi T, Wennauer R, Wiltshire S, Wood AR, Zeggini E, Dunham I, Birney E, Pasquali L, Ferrer J, Loos RJ, Dupuis J, Florez JC, Boerwinkle E, Pankow JS, van Duijn C, Sijbrands E, Meigs JB, Hu FB, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson K, Lakka TA, Rauramaa R, Stumvoll M, Pedersen NL, Lind L, Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi SM, Korpi-Hyövälti E, Saaristo TE, Saltevo J, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Metspalu A, Erbel R, Jöcke KH, Moebus S, Ripatti S, Salomaa V, Ingelsson E, Boehm BO, Bergman RN, Collins FS, Mohlke KL, Koistinen H, Tuomilehto J, Hveem K, Njølstad I, Deloukas P, Donnelly PJ, Frayling TM, Hattersley AT, de Faire U, Hamsten A, Illig T, Peters A, Cauchi S, Sladek R, Froguel P, Hansen T, Pedersen O, Morris AD, Palmer CN, Kathiresan S, Melander O, Nilsson PM, Groop LC, Barroso I, Langenberg C, Wareham NJ, O'Callaghan CA, Gloyn AL, Altshuler D, Boehnke M, Teslovich TM, McCarthy MI, Morris AP, DIAbetes Genetics Replication And Meta-analysis (DIAGRAM) Consortium Genetic fine mapping and genomic annotation defines causal mechanisms at type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci. Nature Genetics. 2015;47:1415–1425. doi: 10.1038/ng.3437. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Godinho L, Mumm JS, Williams PR, Schroeter EH, Koerber A, Park SW, Leach SD, Wong RO. Targeting of amacrine cell neurites to appropriate synaptic laminae in the developing zebrafish retina. Development. 2005;132:5069–5079. doi: 10.1242/dev.02075. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Grant CE, Bailey TL, Noble WS. FIMO: scanning for occurrences of a given motif. Bioinformatics. 2011;27:1017–1018. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btr064. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Greenwald WW, Chiou J, Yan J, Qiu Y, Dai N, Wang A, Nariai N, Aylward A, Han JY, Kadakia N, Regue L, Okino ML, Drees F, Kramer D, Vinckier N, Minichiello L, Gorkin D, Avruch J, Frazer KA, Sander M, Ren B, Gaulton KJ. Pancreatic islet chromatin accessibility and conformation reveals distal enhancer networks of type 2 diabetes risk. Nature Communications. 2019;10:2078. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09975-4. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Halban PA, Polonsky KS, Bowden DW, Hawkins MA, Ling C, Mather KJ, Powers AC, Rhodes CJ, Sussel L, Weir GC. β-cell failure in type 2 diabetes: postulated mechanisms and prospects for prevention and treatment. Diabetes Care. 2014;37:1751–1758. doi: 10.2337/dc14-0396. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Heinz S, Benner C, Spann N, Bertolino E, Lin YC, Laslo P, Cheng JX, Murre C, Singh H, Glass CK. Simple combinations of lineage-determining transcription factors prime cis-regulatory elements required for macrophage and B cell identities. Molecular Cell. 2010;38:576–589. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2010.05.004. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Heymans C, Degosserie J, Spourquet C, Pierreux CE. Pancreatic acinar differentiation is guided by differential laminin deposition. Scientific Reports. 2019;9:2711. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-39077-6. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Horikoshi M, Beaumont RN, Day FR, Warrington NM, Kooijman MN, Fernandez-Tajes J, Feenstra B, van Zuydam NR, Gaulton KJ, Grarup N, Bradfield JP, Strachan DP, Li-Gao R, Ahluwalia TS, Kreiner E, Rueedi R, Lyytikäinen LP, Cousminer DL, Wu Y, Thiering E, Wang CA, Have CT, Hottenga JJ, Vilor-Tejedor N, Joshi PK, Boh ETH, Ntalla I, Pitkänen N, Mahajan A, van Leeuwen EM, Joro R, Lagou V, Nodzenski M, Diver LA, Zondervan KT, Bustamante M, Marques-Vidal P, Mercader JM, Bennett AJ, Rahmioglu N, Nyholt DR, Ma RCW, Tam CHT, Tam WH, Ganesh SK, van Rooij FJ, Jones SE, Loh PR, Ruth KS, Tuke MA, Tyrrell J, Wood AR, Yaghootkar H, Scholtens DM, Paternoster L, Prokopenko I, Kovacs P, Atalay M, Willems SM, Panoutsopoulou K, Wang X, Carstensen L, Geller F, Schraut KE, Murcia M, van Beijsterveldt CE, Willemsen G, Appel EVR, Fonvig CE, Trier C, Tiesler CM, Standl M, Kutalik Z, Bonas-Guarch S, Hougaard DM, Sánchez F, Torrents D, Waage J, Hollegaard MV, de Haan HG, Rosendaal FR, Medina-Gomez C, Ring SM, Hemani G, McMahon G, Robertson NR, Groves CJ, Langenberg C, Luan J, Scott RA, Zhao JH, Mentch FD, MacKenzie SM, Reynolds RM, Lowe WL, Tönjes A, Stumvoll M, Lindi V, Lakka TA, van Duijn CM, Kiess W, Körner A, Sørensen TI, Niinikoski H, Pahkala K, Raitakari OT, Zeggini E, Dedoussis GV, Teo YY, Saw SM, Melbye M, Campbell H, Wilson JF, Vrijheid M, de Geus EJ, Boomsma DI, Kadarmideen HN, Holm JC, Hansen T, Sebert S, Hattersley AT, Beilin LJ, Newnham JP, Pennell CE, Heinrich J, Adair LS, Borja JB, Mohlke KL, Eriksson JG, Widén EE, Kähönen M, Viikari JS, Lehtimäki T, Vollenweider P, Bønnelykke K, Bisgaard H, Mook-Kanamori DO, Hofman A, Rivadeneira F, Uitterlinden AG, Pisinger C, Pedersen O, Power C, Hyppönen E, Wareham NJ, Hakonarson H, Davies E, Walker BR, Jaddoe VW, Jarvelin MR, Grant SF, Vaag AA, Lawlor DA, Frayling TM, Davey Smith G, Morris AP, Ong KK, Felix JF, Timpson NJ, Perry JR, Evans DM, McCarthy MI, Freathy RM, CHARGE Consortium Hematology Working Group. Early Growth Genetics (EGG) Consortium Genome-wide associations for birth weight and correlations with adult disease. Nature. 2016;538:248–252. doi: 10.1038/nature19806. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Hsu YC, Jensen AM. Multiple domains in the crumbs homolog 2a (Crb2a) protein are required for regulating rod photoreceptor size. BMC Cell Biology. 2010;11:60. doi: 10.1186/1471-2121-11-60. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Jiménez-Amilburu V, Stainier DYR. The transmembrane protein Crb2a regulates cardiomyocyte apicobasal polarity and adhesion in zebrafish. Development. 2019;146:dev171207. doi: 10.1242/dev.171207. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Jin W, Mulas F, Gaertner B, Sui Y, Wang J, Matta I, Zeng C, Vinckier N, Wang A, Nguyen-Ngoc KV, Chiou J, Kaestner KH, Frazer KA, Carrano AC, Shih HP, Sander M. A network of microRNAs acts to promote cell cycle exit and differentiation of human pancreatic endocrine cells. iScience. 2019;21:681–694. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2019.10.063. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Kent WJ, Sugnet CW, Furey TS, Roskin KM, Pringle TH, Zahler AM, Haussler D. The human genome browser at UCSC. Genome Research. 2002;12:996–1006. doi: 10.1101/gr.229102. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Khetan S, Kursawe R, Youn A, Lawlor N, Jillette A, Marquez EJ, Ucar D, Stitzel ML. Type 2 Diabetes-Associated genetic variants regulate chromatin accessibility in human islets. Diabetes. 2018;67:2466–2477. doi: 10.2337/db18-0393. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Kimmel RA, Dobler S, Schmitner N, Walsen T, Freudenblum J, Meyer D. Diabetic pdx1-mutant zebrafish show conserved responses to nutrient overload and anti-glycemic treatment. Scientific Reports. 2015;5:14241. doi: 10.1038/srep14241. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Kundaje A, Meuleman W, Ernst J, Bilenky M, Yen A, Heravi-Moussavi A, Kheradpour P, Zhang Z, Wang J, Ziller MJ, Amin V, Whitaker JW, Schultz MD, Ward LD, Sarkar A, Quon G, Sandstrom RS, Eaton ML, Wu YC, Pfenning AR, Wang X, Claussnitzer M, Liu Y, Coarfa C, Harris RA, Shoresh N, Epstein CB, Gjoneska E, Leung D, Xie W, Hawkins RD, Lister R, Hong C, Gascard P, Mungall AJ, Moore R, Chuah E, Tam A, Canfield TK, Hansen RS, Kaul R, Sabo PJ, Bansal MS, Carles A, Dixon JR, Farh KH, Feizi S, Karlic R, Kim AR, Kulkarni A, Li D, Lowdon R, Elliott G, Mercer TR, Neph SJ, Onuchic V, Polak P, Rajagopal N, Ray P, Sallari RC, Siebenthall KT, Sinnott-Armstrong NA, Stevens M, Thurman RE, Wu J, Zhang B, Zhou X, Beaudet AE, Boyer LA, De Jager PL, Farnham PJ, Fisher SJ, Haussler D, Jones SJ, Li W, Marra MA, McManus MT, Sunyaev S, Thomson JA, Tlsty TD, Tsai LH, Wang W, Waterland RA, Zhang MQ, Chadwick LH, Bernstein BE, Costello JF, Ecker JR, Hirst M, Meissner A, Milosavljevic A, Ren B, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Wang T, Kellis M, Roadmap Epigenomics Consortium Integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes. Nature. 2015;518:317–330. doi: 10.1038/nature14248. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Lancman JJ, Zvenigorodsky N, Gates KP, Zhang D, Solomon K, Humphrey RK, Kuo T, Setiawan L, Verkade H, Chi YI, Jhala US, Wright CV, Stainier DY, Dong PD. Specification of hepatopancreas progenitors in zebrafish by hnf1ba and wnt2bb. Development. 2013;140:2669–2679. doi: 10.1242/dev.090993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Li H, Handsaker B, Wysoker A, Fennell T, Ruan J, Homer N, Marth G, Abecasis G, Durbin R, 1000 Genome Project Data Processing Subgroup The sequence alignment/Map format and SAMtools. Bioinformatics. 2009;25:2078–2079. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btp352. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Li XY, Zhai WJ, Teng CB. Notch signaling in pancreatic development. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2015;17:48. doi: 10.3390/ijms17010048. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Li H, Durbin R. Fast and accurate short read alignment with Burrows-Wheeler transform. Bioinformatics. 2009;25:1754–1760. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btp324. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Love MI, Huber W, Anders S. Moderated estimation of fold change and dispersion for RNA-seq data with DESeq2. Genome Biology. 2014;15:550. doi: 10.1186/s13059-014-0550-8. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Lumey LH, Khalangot MD, Vaiserman AM. Association between type 2 diabetes and prenatal exposure to the Ukraine famine of 1932-33: a retrospective cohort study. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. 2015;3:787–794. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(15)00279-X. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Mahajan A, Taliun D, Thurner M, Robertson NR, Torres JM, Rayner NW, Payne AJ, Steinthorsdottir V, Scott RA, Grarup N, Cook JP, Schmidt EM, Wuttke M, Sarnowski C, Mägi R, Nano J, Gieger C, Trompet S, Lecoeur C, Preuss MH, Prins BP, Guo X, Bielak LF, Below JE, Bowden DW, Chambers JC, Kim YJ, Ng MCY, Petty LE, Sim X, Zhang W, Bennett AJ, Bork-Jensen J, Brummett CM, Canouil M, Ec Kardt KU, Fischer K, Kardia SLR, Kronenberg F, Läll K, Liu CT, Locke AE, Luan J, Ntalla I, Nylander V, Schönherr S, Schurmann C, Yengo L, Bottinger EP, Brandslund I, Christensen C, Dedoussis G, Florez JC, Ford I, Franco OH, Frayling TM, Giedraitis V, Hackinger S, Hattersley AT, Herder C, Ikram MA, Ingelsson M, Jørgensen ME, Jørgensen T, Kriebel J, Kuusisto J, Ligthart S, Lindgren CM, Linneberg A, Lyssenko V, Mamakou V, Meitinger T, Mohlke KL, Morris AD, Nadkarni G, Pankow JS, Peters A, Sattar N, Stančáková A, Strauch K, Taylor KD, Thorand B, Thorleifsson G, Thorsteinsdottir U, Tuomilehto J, Witte DR, Dupuis J, Peyser PA, Zeggini E, Loos RJF, Froguel P, Ingelsson E, Lind L, Groop L, Laakso M, Collins FS, Jukema JW, Palmer CNA, Grallert H, Metspalu A, Dehghan A, Köttgen A, Abecasis GR, Meigs JB, Rotter JI, Marchini J, Pedersen O, Hansen T, Langenberg C, Wareham NJ, Stefansson K, Gloyn AL, Morris AP, Boehnke M, McCarthy MI. Fine-mapping type 2 diabetes loci to single-variant resolution using high-density imputation and islet-specific epigenome maps. Nature Genetics. 2018;50:1505–1513. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0241-6. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Mamidi A, Prawiro C, Seymour PA, de Lichtenberg KH, Jackson A, Serup P, Semb H. Mechanosignalling via integrins directs fate decisions of pancreatic progenitors. Nature. 2018;564:114–118. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0762-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  50. Manning AK, Hivert MF, Scott RA, Grimsby JL, Bouatia-Naji N, Chen H, Rybin D, Liu CT, Bielak LF, Prokopenko I, Amin N, Barnes D, Cadby G, Hottenga JJ, Ingelsson E, Jackson AU, Johnson T, Kanoni S, Ladenvall C, Lagou V, Lahti J, Lecoeur C, Liu Y, Martinez-Larrad MT, Montasser ME, Navarro P, Perry JR, Rasmussen-Torvik LJ, Salo P, Sattar N, Shungin D, Strawbridge RJ, Tanaka T, van Duijn CM, An P, de Andrade M, Andrews JS, Aspelund T, Atalay M, Aulchenko Y, Balkau B, Bandinelli S, Beckmann JS, Beilby JP, Bellis C, Bergman RN, Blangero J, Boban M, Boehnke M, Boerwinkle E, Bonnycastle LL, Boomsma DI, Borecki IB, Böttcher Y, Bouchard C, Brunner E, Budimir D, Campbell H, Carlson O, Chines PS, Clarke R, Collins FS, Corbatón-Anchuelo A, Couper D, de Faire U, Dedoussis GV, Deloukas P, Dimitriou M, Egan JM, Eiriksdottir G, Erdos MR, Eriksson JG, Eury E, Ferrucci L, Ford I, Forouhi NG, Fox CS, Franzosi MG, Franks PW, Frayling TM, Froguel P, Galan P, de Geus E, Gigante B, Glazer NL, Goel A, Groop L, Gudnason V, Hallmans G, Hamsten A, Hansson O, Harris TB, Hayward C, Heath S, Hercberg S, Hicks AA, Hingorani A, Hofman A, Hui J, Hung J, Jarvelin MR, Jhun MA, Johnson PC, Jukema JW, Jula A, Kao WH, Kaprio J, Kardia SL, Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi S, Kivimaki M, Kolcic I, Kovacs P, Kumari M, Kuusisto J, Kyvik KO, Laakso M, Lakka T, Lannfelt L, Lathrop GM, Launer LJ, Leander K, Li G, Lind L, Lindstrom J, Lobbens S, Loos RJ, Luan J, Lyssenko V, Mägi R, Magnusson PK, Marmot M, Meneton P, Mohlke KL, Mooser V, Morken MA, Miljkovic I, Narisu N, O'Connell J, Ong KK, Oostra BA, Palmer LJ, Palotie A, Pankow JS, Peden JF, Pedersen NL, Pehlic M, Peltonen L, Penninx B, Pericic M, Perola M, Perusse L, Peyser PA, Polasek O, Pramstaller PP, Province MA, Räikkönen K, Rauramaa R, Rehnberg E, Rice K, Rotter JI, Rudan I, Ruokonen A, Saaristo T, Sabater-Lleal M, Salomaa V, Savage DB, Saxena R, Schwarz P, Seedorf U, Sennblad B, Serrano-Rios M, Shuldiner AR, Sijbrands EJ, Siscovick DS, Smit JH, Small KS, Smith NL, Smith AV, Stančáková A, Stirrups K, Stumvoll M, Sun YV, Swift AJ, Tönjes A, Tuomilehto J, Trompet S, Uitterlinden AG, Uusitupa M, Vikström M, Vitart V, Vohl MC, Voight BF, Vollenweider P, Waeber G, Waterworth DM, Watkins H, Wheeler E, Widen E, Wild SH, Willems SM, Willemsen G, Wilson JF, Witteman JC, Wright AF, Yaghootkar H, Zelenika D, Zemunik T, Zgaga L, Wareham NJ, McCarthy MI, Barroso I, Watanabe RM, Florez JC, Dupuis J, Meigs JB, Langenberg C, DIAbetes Genetics Replication And Meta-analysis (DIAGRAM) Consortium. Multiple Tissue Human Expression Resource (MUTHER) Consortium A genome-wide approach accounting for body mass index identifies genetic variants influencing fasting glycemic traits and insulin resistance. Nature Genetics. 2012;44:659–669. doi: 10.1038/ng.2274. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  51. Masui T, Long Q, Beres TM, Magnuson MA, MacDonald RJ. Early pancreatic development requires the vertebrate suppressor of hairless (RBPJ) in the PTF1 bHLH complex. Genes & Development. 2007;21:2629–2643. doi: 10.1101/gad.1575207. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  52. Mathelier A, Fornes O, Arenillas DJ, Chen CY, Denay G, Lee J, Shi W, Shyr C, Tan G, Worsley-Hunt R, Zhang AW, Parcy F, Lenhard B, Sandelin A, Wasserman WW. JASPAR 2016: a major expansion and update of the open-access database of transcription factor binding profiles. Nucleic Acids Research. 2016;44:D110–D115. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkv1176. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  53. Mikkelsen TS, Xu Z, Zhang X, Wang L, Gimble JM, Lander ES, Rosen ED. Comparative epigenomic analysis of murine and human adipogenesis. Cell. 2010;143:156–169. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2010.09.006. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  54. Murtaugh LC. The what, where, when and how of wnt/β-catenin signaling in pancreas development. Organogenesis. 2008;4:81–86. doi: 10.4161/org.4.2.5853. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  55. Nielsen JH, Haase TN, Jaksch C, Nalla A, Søstrup B, Nalla AA, Larsen L, Rasmussen M, Dalgaard LT, Gaarn LW, Thams P, Kofod H, Billestrup N. Impact of fetal and neonatal environment on beta cell function and development of diabetes. Acta Obstetricia Et Gynecologica Scandinavica. 2014;93:1109–1122. doi: 10.1111/aogs.12504. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  56. Nikolova G, Jabs N, Konstantinova I, Domogatskaya A, Tryggvason K, Sorokin L, Fässler R, Gu G, Gerber HP, Ferrara N, Melton DA, Lammert E. The vascular basement membrane: a niche for insulin gene expression and beta cell proliferation. Developmental Cell. 2006;10:397–405. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2006.01.015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  57. Omori Y, Malicki J. Oko meduzy and related crumbs genes are determinants of apical cell features in the vertebrate embryo. Current Biology. 2006;16:945–957. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.03.058. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  58. Parker SC, Stitzel ML, Taylor DL, Orozco JM, Erdos MR, Akiyama JA, van Bueren KL, Chines PS, Narisu N, Black BL, Visel A, Pennacchio LA, Collins FS, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program. National Institutes of Health Intramural Sequencing Center Comparative Sequencing Program Authors. NISC Comparative Sequencing Program Authors Chromatin stretch enhancer states drive cell-specific gene regulation and harbor human disease risk variants. PNAS. 2013;110:17921–17926. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1317023110. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  59. Pasquali L, Gaulton KJ, Rodríguez-Seguí SA, Mularoni L, Miguel-Escalada I, Akerman İ, Tena JJ, Morán I, Gómez-Marín C, van de Bunt M, Ponsa-Cobas J, Castro N, Nammo T, Cebola I, García-Hurtado J, Maestro MA, Pattou F, Piemonti L, Berney T, Gloyn AL, Ravassard P, Skarmeta JLG, Müller F, McCarthy MI, Ferrer J. Pancreatic islet enhancer clusters enriched in type 2 diabetes risk-associated variants. Nature Genetics. 2014;46:136–143. doi: 10.1038/ng.2870. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  60. Perry JR, Voight BF, Yengo L, Amin N, Dupuis J, Ganser M, Grallert H, Navarro P, Li M, Qi L, Steinthorsdottir V, Scott RA, Almgren P, Arking DE, Aulchenko Y, Balkau B, Benediktsson R, Bergman RN, Boerwinkle E, Bonnycastle L, Burtt NP, Campbell H, Charpentier G, Collins FS, Gieger C, Green T, Hadjadj S, Hattersley AT, Herder C, Hofman A, Johnson AD, Kottgen A, Kraft P, Labrune Y, Langenberg C, Manning AK, Mohlke KL, Morris AP, Oostra B, Pankow J, Petersen AK, Pramstaller PP, Prokopenko I, Rathmann W, Rayner W, Roden M, Rudan I, Rybin D, Scott LJ, Sigurdsson G, Sladek R, Thorleifsson G, Thorsteinsdottir U, Tuomilehto J, Uitterlinden AG, Vivequin S, Weedon MN, Wright AF, Hu FB, Illig T, Kao L, Meigs JB, Wilson JF, Stefansson K, van Duijn C, Altschuler D, Morris AD, Boehnke M, McCarthy MI, Froguel P, Palmer CN, Wareham NJ, Groop L, Frayling TM, Cauchi S, MAGIC. DIAGRAM Consortium. GIANT Consortium Stratifying type 2 diabetes cases by BMI identifies genetic risk variants in LAMA1 and enrichment for risk variants in lean compared to obese cases. PLOS Genetics. 2012;8:e1002741. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002741. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  61. Pique-Regi R, Degner JF, Pai AA, Gaffney DJ, Gilad Y, Pritchard JK. Accurate inference of transcription factor binding from DNA sequence and chromatin accessibility data. Genome Research. 2011;21:447–455. doi: 10.1101/gr.112623.110. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  62. Pollard SM, Parsons MJ, Kamei M, Kettleborough RN, Thomas KA, Pham VN, Bae MK, Scott A, Weinstein BM, Stemple DL. Essential and overlapping roles for laminin alpha chains in notochord and blood vessel formation. Developmental Biology. 2006;289:64–76. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2005.10.006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  63. Portha B, Chavey A, Movassat J. Early-Life origins of type 2 diabetes: fetal programming of the Beta-Cell mass. Experimental Diabetes Research. 2011;2011:1–16. doi: 10.1155/2011/105076. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  64. Qiu Y. Pancreatic-Progenitor-Epigenome-Maps-Prioritize-Type-2-Diabetes-Risk-Genes-with-Roles-in-Development. 3.0Github. 2021 doi: 10.7554/eLife.59067. https://github.com/MSanderlab/Pancreatic-progenitor-epigenome-maps-prioritize-type-2-diabetes-risk-genes-with-roles-in-development [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
  65. Quinlan AR, Hall IM. BEDTools: a flexible suite of utilities for comparing genomic features. Bioinformatics. 2010;26:841–842. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btq033. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  66. Rada-Iglesias A, Bajpai R, Swigut T, Brugmann SA, Flynn RA, Wysocka J. A unique chromatin signature uncovers early developmental enhancers in humans. Nature. 2011;470:279–283. doi: 10.1038/nature09692. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  67. Ramírez F, Ryan DP, Grüning B, Bhardwaj V, Kilpert F, Richter AS, Heyne S, Dündar F, Manke T. deepTools2: a next generation web server for deep-sequencing data analysis. Nucleic Acids Research. 2016;44:W160–W165. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkw257. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  68. Rao SS, Huntley MH, Durand NC, Stamenova EK, Bochkov ID, Robinson JT, Sanborn AL, Machol I, Omer AD, Lander ES, Aiden EL. A 3D map of the human genome at Kilobase resolution reveals principles of chromatin looping. Cell. 2014;159:1665–1680. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.11.021. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  69. Rezania A, Bruin JE, Arora P, Rubin A, Batushansky I, Asadi A, O'Dwyer S, Quiskamp N, Mojibian M, Albrecht T, Yang YH, Johnson JD, Kieffer TJ. Reversal of diabetes with insulin-producing cells derived in vitro from human pluripotent stem cells. Nature Biotechnology. 2014;32:1121–1133. doi: 10.1038/nbt.3033. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  70. Rozowsky J, Abyzov A, Wang J, Alves P, Raha D, Harmanci A, Leng J, Bjornson R, Kong Y, Kitabayashi N, Bhardwaj N, Rubin M, Snyder M, Gerstein M. AlleleSeq: analysis of allele-specific expression and binding in a network framework. Molecular Systems Biology. 2011;7:522. doi: 10.1038/msb.2011.54. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  71. Saxena R, Hivert MF, Langenberg C, Tanaka T, Pankow JS, Vollenweider P, Lyssenko V, Bouatia-Naji N, Dupuis J, Jackson AU, Kao WH, Li M, Glazer NL, Manning AK, Luan J, Stringham HM, Prokopenko I, Johnson T, Grarup N, Boesgaard TW, Lecoeur C, Shrader P, O'Connell J, Ingelsson E, Couper DJ, Rice K, Song K, Andreasen CH, Dina C, Köttgen A, Le Bacquer O, Pattou F, Taneera J, Steinthorsdottir V, Rybin D, Ardlie K, Sampson M, Qi L, van Hoek M, Weedon MN, Aulchenko YS, Voight BF, Grallert H, Balkau B, Bergman RN, Bielinski SJ, Bonnefond A, Bonnycastle LL, Borch-Johnsen K, Böttcher Y, Brunner E, Buchanan TA, Bumpstead SJ, Cavalcanti-Proença C, Charpentier G, Chen YD, Chines PS, Collins FS, Cornelis M, J Crawford G, Delplanque J, Doney A, Egan JM, Erdos MR, Firmann M, Forouhi NG, Fox CS, Goodarzi MO, Graessler J, Hingorani A, Isomaa B, Jørgensen T, Kivimaki M, Kovacs P, Krohn K, Kumari M, Lauritzen T, Lévy-Marchal C, Mayor V, McAteer JB, Meyre D, Mitchell BD, Mohlke KL, Morken MA, Narisu N, Palmer CN, Pakyz R, Pascoe L, Payne F, Pearson D, Rathmann W, Sandbaek A, Sayer AA, Scott LJ, Sharp SJ, Sijbrands E, Singleton A, Siscovick DS, Smith NL, Sparsø T, Swift AJ, Syddall H, Thorleifsson G, Tönjes A, Tuomi T, Tuomilehto J, Valle TT, Waeber G, Walley A, Waterworth DM, Zeggini E, Zhao JH, Illig T, Wichmann HE, Wilson JF, van Duijn C, Hu FB, Morris AD, Frayling TM, Hattersley AT, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson K, Nilsson P, Syvänen AC, Shuldiner AR, Walker M, Bornstein SR, Schwarz P, Williams GH, Nathan DM, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Cooper C, Marmot M, Ferrucci L, Mooser V, Stumvoll M, Loos RJ, Altshuler D, Psaty BM, Rotter JI, Boerwinkle E, Hansen T, Pedersen O, Florez JC, McCarthy MI, Boehnke M, Barroso I, Sladek R, Froguel P, Meigs JB, Groop L, Wareham NJ, Watanabe RM, GIANT consortium. MAGIC investigators Genetic variation in GIPR influences the glucose and insulin responses to an oral glucose challenge. Nature Genetics. 2010;42:142–148. doi: 10.1038/ng.521. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  72. Schulz TC, Young HY, Agulnick AD, Babin MJ, Baetge EE, Bang AG, Bhoumik A, Cepa I, Cesario RM, Haakmeester C, Kadoya K, Kelly JR, Kerr J, Martinson LA, McLean AB, Moorman MA, Payne JK, Richardson M, Ross KG, Sherrer ES, Song X, Wilson AZ, Brandon EP, Green CE, Kroon EJ, Kelly OG, D'Amour KA, Robins AJ. A scalable system for production of functional pancreatic progenitors from human embryonic stem cells. PLOS ONE. 2012;7:e37004. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0037004. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  73. Sharon N, Vanderhooft J, Straubhaar J, Mueller J, Chawla R, Zhou Q, Engquist EN, Trapnell C, Gifford DK, Melton DA. Wnt signaling separates the progenitor and endocrine compartments during pancreas development. Cell Reports. 2019;27:2281–2291. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.04.083. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  74. Shi ZD, Lee K, Yang D, Amin S, Verma N, Li QV, Zhu Z, Soh CL, Kumar R, Evans T, Chen S, Huangfu D. Genome editing in hPSCs reveals GATA6 haploinsufficiency and a genetic interaction with GATA4 in human pancreatic development. Cell Stem Cell. 2017;20:675–688. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2017.01.001. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  75. Slavotinek A, Kaylor J, Pierce H, Cahr M, DeWard SJ, Schneidman-Duhovny D, Alsadah A, Salem F, Schmajuk G, Mehta L. CRB2 mutations produce a phenotype resembling congenital nephrosis, finnish type, with cerebral ventriculomegaly and raised alpha-fetoprotein. The American Journal of Human Genetics. 2015;96:162–169. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.013. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  76. Steinthorsdottir V, Thorleifsson G, Sulem P, Helgason H, Grarup N, Sigurdsson A, Helgadottir HT, Johannsdottir H, Magnusson OT, Gudjonsson SA, Justesen JM, Harder MN, Jørgensen ME, Christensen C, Brandslund I, Sandbæk A, Lauritzen T, Vestergaard H, Linneberg A, Jørgensen T, Hansen T, Daneshpour MS, Fallah MS, Hreidarsson AB, Sigurdsson G, Azizi F, Benediktsson R, Masson G, Helgason A, Kong A, Gudbjartsson DF, Pedersen O, Thorsteinsdottir U, Stefansson K. Identification of low-frequency and rare sequence variants associated with elevated or reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. Nature Genetics. 2014;46:294–298. doi: 10.1038/ng.2882. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  77. Strawbridge RJ, Dupuis J, Prokopenko I, Barker A, Ahlqvist E, Rybin D, Petrie JR, Travers ME, Bouatia-Naji N, Dimas AS, Nica A, Wheeler E, Chen H, Voight BF, Taneera J, Kanoni S, Peden JF, Turrini F, Gustafsson S, Zabena C, Almgren P, Barker DJP, Barnes D, Dennison EM, Eriksson JG, Eriksson P, Eury E, Folkersen L, Fox CS, Frayling TM, Goel A, Gu HF, Horikoshi M, Isomaa B, Jackson AU, Jameson KA, Kajantie E, Kerr-Conte J, Kuulasmaa T, Kuusisto J, Loos RJF, Luan J, Makrilakis K, Manning AK, Martinez-Larrad MT, Narisu N, Nastase Mannila M, Ohrvik J, Osmond C, Pascoe L, Payne F, Sayer AA, Sennblad B, Silveira A, Stancakova A, Stirrups K, Swift AJ, Syvanen A-C, Tuomi T, van 't Hooft FM, Walker M, Weedon MN, Xie W, Zethelius B, Ongen H, Malarstig A, Hopewell JC, Saleheen D, Chambers J, Parish S, Danesh J, Kooner J, Ostenson C-G, Lind L, Cooper CC, Serrano-Rios M, Ferrannini E, Forsen TJ, Clarke R, Franzosi MG, Seedorf U, Watkins H, Froguel P, Johnson P, Deloukas P, Collins FS, Laakso M, Dermitzakis ET, Boehnke M, McCarthy MI, Wareham NJ, Groop L, Pattou F, Gloyn AL, Dedoussis GV, Lyssenko V, Meigs JB, Barroso I, Watanabe RM, Ingelsson E, Langenberg C, Hamsten A, Florez JC. Genome-Wide association identifies nine common variants associated with fasting proinsulin levels and provides new insights into the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes. 2011;60:2624–2634. doi: 10.2337/db11-0415. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  78. Sui L, Geens M, Sermon K, Bouwens L, Mfopou JK. Role of BMP signaling in pancreatic progenitor differentiation from human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cell Reviews and Reports. 2013;9:569–577. doi: 10.1007/s12015-013-9435-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  79. Taal HR, Pourcain BS, Thiering E, Das S, Mook-Kanamori DO, Warrington NM, Kaakinen M, Kreiner-Møller E, Bradfield JP, Freathy RM, Geller F, Guxens M, Cousminer DL, Kerkhof M, Timpson NJ, Ikram MA, Beilin LJ, Bønnelykke K, Buxton JL, Charoen P, Chawes BLK, Eriksson J, Evans DM, Hofman A, Kemp JP, Kim CE, Klopp N, Lahti J, Lye SJ, McMahon G, Mentch FD, Müller M, O'Reilly PF, Prokopenko I, Rivadeneira F, Steegers EAP, Sunyer J, Tiesler C, Yaghootkar H, Breteler MMB, Debette S, Fornage M, Gudnason V, Launer LJ, van der Lugt A, Mosley TH, Seshadri S, Smith AV, Vernooij MW, Blakemore AI, Chiavacci RM, Feenstra B, Fernandez-Benet J, Grant SFA, Hartikainen AL, van der Heijden AJ, Iñiguez C, Lathrop M, McArdle WL, Mølgaard A, Newnham JP, Palmer LJ, Palotie A, Pouta A, Ring SM, Sovio U, Standl M, Uitterlinden AG, Wichmann HE, Vissing NH, DeCarli C, van Duijn CM, McCarthy MI, Koppelman GH, Estivill X, Hattersley AT, Melbye M, Bisgaard H, Pennell CE, Widen E, Hakonarson H, Smith GD, Heinrich J, Jarvelin MR, Jaddoe VWV, Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genetic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium. Early Genetics & Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortium. Early Growth Genetics (EGG) Consortium Common variants at 12q15 and 12q24 are associated with infant head circumference. Nature Genetics. 2012;44:532–538. doi: 10.1038/ng.2238. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  80. Thurner M, van de Bunt M, Torres JM, Mahajan A, Nylander V, Bennett AJ, Gaulton KJ, Barrett A, Burrows C, Bell CG, Lowe R, Beck S, Rakyan VK, Gloyn AL, McCarthy MI. Integration of human pancreatic islet genomic data refines regulatory mechanisms at type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci. eLife. 2018;7:e31977. doi: 10.7554/eLife.31977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  81. Tiyaboonchai A, Cardenas-Diaz FL, Ying L, Maguire JA, Sim X, Jobaliya C, Gagne AL, Kishore S, Stanescu DE, Hughes N, De Leon DD, French DL, Gadue P. GATA6 plays an important role in the induction of human definitive endoderm, development of the pancreas, and functionality of pancreatic β Cells. Stem Cell Reports. 2017;8:589–604. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2016.12.026. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  82. Trapnell C, Williams BA, Pertea G, Mortazavi A, Kwan G, van Baren MJ, Salzberg SL, Wold BJ, Pachter L. Transcript assembly and quantification by RNA-Seq reveals unannotated transcripts and isoform switching during cell differentiation. Nature Biotechnology. 2010;28:511–515. doi: 10.1038/nbt.1621. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  83. Urakami T. Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY): current perspectives on diagnosis and treatment. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity : Targets and Therapy. 2019;12:1047–1056. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S179793. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  84. van der Valk RJ, Kreiner-Møller E, Kooijman MN, Guxens M, Stergiakouli E, Sääf A, Bradfield JP, Geller F, Hayes MG, Cousminer DL, Körner A, Thiering E, Curtin JA, Myhre R, Huikari V, Joro R, Kerkhof M, Warrington NM, Pitkänen N, Ntalla I, Horikoshi M, Veijola R, Freathy RM, Teo YY, Barton SJ, Evans DM, Kemp JP, St Pourcain B, Ring SM, Davey Smith G, Bergström A, Kull I, Hakonarson H, Mentch FD, Bisgaard H, Chawes B, Stokholm J, Waage J, Eriksen P, Sevelsted A, Melbye M, van Duijn CM, Medina-Gomez C, Hofman A, de Jongste JC, Taal HR, Uitterlinden AG, Armstrong LL, Eriksson J, Palotie A, Bustamante M, Estivill X, Gonzalez JR, Llop S, Kiess W, Mahajan A, Flexeder C, Tiesler CM, Murray CS, Simpson A, Magnus P, Sengpiel V, Hartikainen AL, Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi S, Lewin A, Da Silva Couto Alves A, Blakemore AI, Buxton JL, Kaakinen M, Rodriguez A, Sebert S, Vaarasmaki M, Lakka T, Lindi V, Gehring U, Postma DS, Ang W, Newnham JP, Lyytikäinen LP, Pahkala K, Raitakari OT, Panoutsopoulou K, Zeggini E, Boomsma DI, Groen-Blokhuis M, Ilonen J, Franke L, Hirschhorn JN, Pers TH, Liang L, Huang J, Hocher B, Knip M, Saw SM, Holloway JW, Melén E, Grant SF, Feenstra B, Lowe WL, Widén E, Sergeyev E, Grallert H, Custovic A, Jacobsson B, Jarvelin MR, Atalay M, Koppelman GH, Pennell CE, Niinikoski H, Dedoussis GV, Mccarthy MI, Frayling TM, Sunyer J, Timpson NJ, Rivadeneira F, Bønnelykke K, Jaddoe VW, Early Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) Consortium. Genetic Investigation of ANthropometric Traits (GIANT) Consortium. Early Growth Genetics (EGG) Consortium A novel common variant in DCST2 is associated with length in early life and height in adulthood. Human Molecular Genetics. 2015;24:1155–1168. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddu510. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  85. Varelas X, Samavarchi-Tehrani P, Narimatsu M, Weiss A, Cockburn K, Larsen BG, Rossant J, Wrana JL. The crumbs complex couples cell density sensing to Hippo-dependent control of the TGF-β-SMAD pathway. Developmental Cell. 2010;19:831–844. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2010.11.012. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  86. Varshney A, Scott LJ, Welch RP, Erdos MR, Chines PS, Narisu N, Albanus RD, Orchard P, Wolford BN, Kursawe R, Vadlamudi S, Cannon ME, Didion JP, Hensley J, Kirilusha A, Bonnycastle LL, Taylor DL, Watanabe R, Mohlke KL, Boehnke M, Collins FS, Parker SC, Stitzel ML, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program Genetic regulatory signatures underlying islet gene expression and type 2 diabetes. PNAS. 2017;114:2301–2306. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1621192114. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  87. Villar D, Berthelot C, Aldridge S, Rayner TF, Lukk M, Pignatelli M, Park TJ, Deaville R, Erichsen JT, Jasinska AJ, Turner JM, Bertelsen MF, Murchison EP, Flicek P, Odom DT. Enhancer evolution across 20 mammalian species. Cell. 2015;160:554–566. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.01.006. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  88. Wang A, Yue F, Li Y, Xie R, Harper T, Patel NA, Muth K, Palmer J, Qiu Y, Wang J, Lam DK, Raum JC, Stoffers DA, Ren B, Sander M. Epigenetic priming of enhancers predicts developmental competence of hESC-derived endodermal lineage intermediates. Cell Stem Cell. 2015;16:386–399. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2015.02.013. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  89. Watanabe K, Nishimura Y, Oka T, Nomoto T, Kon T, Shintou T, Hirano M, Shimada Y, Umemoto N, Kuroyanagi J, Wang Z, Zhang Z, Nishimura N, Miyazaki T, Imamura T, Tanaka T. In vivo imaging of zebrafish retinal cells using fluorescent coumarin derivatives. BMC Neuroscience. 2010;11:116. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-11-116. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  90. Westmoreland JJ, Kilic G, Sartain C, Sirma S, Blain J, Rehg J, Harvey N, Sosa-Pineda B. Pancreas-specific deletion of Prox1 affects development and disrupts homeostasis of the exocrine pancreas. Gastroenterology. 2012;142:999–1009. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2011.12.007. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  91. Whyte WA, Orlando DA, Hnisz D, Abraham BJ, Lin CY, Kagey MH, Rahl PB, Lee TI, Young RA. Master transcription factors and mediator establish super-enhancers at key cell identity genes. Cell. 2013;153:307–319. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.03.035. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  92. Wood AR, Jonsson A, Jackson AU, Wang N, van Leewen N, Palmer ND, Kobes S, Deelen J, Boquete-Vilarino L, Paananen J, Stančáková A, Boomsma DI, de Geus EJC, Eekhoff EMW, Fritsche A, Kramer M, Nijpels G, Simonis-Bik A, van Haeften TW, Mahajan A, Boehnke M, Bergman RN, Tuomilehto J, Collins FS, Mohlke KL, Banasik K, Groves CJ, McCarthy MI, Pearson ER, Natali A, Mari A, Buchanan TA, Taylor KD, Xiang AH, Gjesing AP, Grarup N, Eiberg H, Pedersen O, Chen YD, Laakso M, Norris JM, Smith U, Wagenknecht LE, Baier L, Bowden DW, Hansen T, Walker M, Watanabe RM, 't Hart LM, Hanson RL, Frayling TM, Diabetes Research on Patient Stratification (DIRECT) A Genome-Wide association study of IVGTT-Based measures of First-Phase insulin secretion refines the underlying physiology of type 2 diabetes variants. Diabetes. 2017;66:2296–2309. doi: 10.2337/db16-1452. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  93. Xie R, Everett LJ, Lim HW, Patel NA, Schug J, Kroon E, Kelly OG, Wang A, D'Amour KA, Robins AJ, Won KJ, Kaestner KH, Sander M. Dynamic chromatin remodeling mediated by polycomb proteins orchestrates pancreatic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2013;12:224–237. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2012.11.023. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  94. Zhang Y, Liu T, Meyer CA, Eeckhoute J, Johnson DS, Bernstein BE, Nusbaum C, Myers RM, Brown M, Li W, Liu XS. Model-based analysis of ChIP-Seq (MACS) Genome Biology. 2008;9:R137. doi: 10.1186/gb-2008-9-9-r137. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  95. Zhou Y, Zhou B, Pache L, Chang M, Khodabakhshi AH, Tanaseichuk O, Benner C, Chanda SK. Metascape provides a biologist-oriented resource for the analysis of systems-level datasets. Nature Communications. 2019;10:1523. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09234-6. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Decision letter

Editor: Mone Zaidi1

In the interests of transparency, eLife publishes the most substantive revision requests and the accompanying author responses.

Acceptance summary:

The regard this as a well-designed study focused on developmental programs in pancreatic islet cells that underscore the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Notably, it was found that progenitor-specific enhancers harboring T2D-associated variants regulate the cell polarity genes LAMA1 and CRB2. Functionality was assessed by knocking down lama1 or crb2 in zebrafish embryos that led to defective pancreas morphogenesis and islet cell development. The studies unmask novel targets for therapeutic intervention for T2D.

Decision letter after peer review:

Thank you for submitting your article "Pancreatic progenitor epigenome maps prioritize type 2 diabetes risk genes with roles in development" for consideration by eLife. Your article has been reviewed by three peer reviewers, and the evaluation has been overseen by a Reviewing Editor and a Senior Editor. The reviewers have opted to remain anonymous.

The reviewers have discussed the reviews with one another and the Reviewing Editor has drafted this decision to help you prepare a revised submission.

As the editors have judged that your manuscript is of interest, but as described below that additional experiments are required before it is published, we would like to draw your attention to changes in our revision policy that we have made in response to COVID-19 (https://elifesciences.org/articles/57162). First, because many researchers have temporarily lost access to the labs, we will give authors as much time as they need to submit revised manuscripts. We are also offering, if you choose, to post the manuscript to bioRxiv (if it is not already there) along with this decision letter and a formal designation that the manuscript is "in revision at eLife". Please let us know if you would like to pursue this option. (If your work is more suitable for medRxiv, you will need to post the preprint yourself, as the mechanisms for us to do so are still in development.)

Summary:

The risk of developing Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. For most genetic loci implicated in T2D risk, the disease-relevant target genes remain to be defined. In addition, it is not clear in which tissues the underlying genes exert their function. This manuscript explores through genetic analysis, the long-standing hypothesis that prior defect in beta cell differentiation may predispose to higher risk of developing T2D later in life. The authors used chromatin mapping of different developmental stages during directed development of beta cells from human ESCs. They convincingly identify stretch enhancers that are open and active at progenitor stages, but not in fully (or nearly fully) developed islets that contain T2D risk variants. In addition, gene-editing experiments demonstrate that 2 of the stretch enhancers are necessary for complete expression of their eponymous genes within the TADs of these enhancers, without any obvious other in vitro phenotype. Furthermore, when the eponymous genes, LMAT and CRB2, were knocked down in zebra fish, they were found to be critical for normal pancreatic morphogenesis and beta cell development. Overall the paper is well written, the data are convincing, and the conclusions are reasonable. A number of issues need to be addressed that require new experiments.

Essential revisions:

1) Since important stretch enhancers define cellular phenotype, it is not clear that expression of only genes within the enhancers' TAD are influenced by their activities (see for instance, Jian and Felsenfeld paper, PNAS, 2018: DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1803146115). Thus, it is felt critical that the authors perform RNAseq at the PP2 stage comparing control and the CRISPR-deleted stretch enhancer lines, to determine if there is influence on any other transcription factor(s) in development or beta cell function (or to see changes in in vitro phenotype). Further, since enhancers were deleted in the hESC experiment, and the genes were deleted in the zebra fish experiment, it would be helpful to include deletion of the genes in the ES context (since it is clearly difficult to find a syntenic enhancer in the fish model).

2) The authors modelled deletion of PSSEs associated with LAMA1 and CRB2 in an in vitro hESC differentiation system. Unfortunately, the mutations had no effect on the endocrine differentiation program in the hESC model. This may be due to the in vitro environment, where morphogenesis of the pancreas is not adequately recapitulated. To circumvent this problem, the authors used morpholino knockdowns in zebrafish embryos and found a reduced number of beta cells forming in the islet of the developing pancreas. Thus, they conclude that LAMA1 and CRB2 specifically affect pancreatic developmental programs, and suggest that aberrant developmental processes can predispose to T2D. In its present form, the work has potential but it requires essential additional data to support the central claims of the paper. Importantly, there are well-known issues with the anti-sense reagents, including unspecific effects and toxicity. Therefore, the consensus in the zebrafish field is that morpholino knockdown alone is an unreliable approach to assign new gene function. In fact, the number of beta cells that form in the zebrafish embryo would be highly sensitive to morpholino-related side-effects and toxicity. Therefore, the findings that Lama1 and Crb2b play a role in beta-cell development is at best unsubstantiated. To make this claim conclusive, the authors would need to show similar phenotypes using homozygous mutants in Lama1 and Crb2b or deletions in the corresponding enhancers in zebrafish. Once a "clean" phenotype is demonstrated, it will be important to address several critical questions to strengthen the current analysis: (a) Is the reduction in beta-cell number due to a defect in beta-cell proliferation, differentiation or both? (b) Does Lama1 or Crb2b deficiency affect the specification, expansion or morphogenesis of the progenitor domains in the extra-pancreatic and/or intra-pancreatic ducts? (c) do the genes play a role in the formation of the dorsal- or ventral-bud-derived beta-cells or both? (d) Do the genes play a role in endocrine-cell migration, coalescence or clustering of the islet?

and (e) Does the reduction in the number of beta cells have a functional consequence for glucose tolerance in the fish, either under homeostasis or upon metabolic challenges, such as high glucose incubation or egg-yolk feeding?

3) The mammalian antibodies used for IHC (anti-Lama1, anti-pan-Crb, and anti-pan-Crb2b) have not been validated in fish. The IHC should be repeated in Lama1 and Crb2b mutants or morphants. There should be a loss of signal in the pancreas if everything is as expected.

eLife. 2021 Feb 5;10:e59067. doi: 10.7554/eLife.59067.sa2

Author response


Essential revisions:

1) Since important stretch enhancers define cellular phenotype, it is not clear that expression of only genes within the enhancers' TAD are influenced by their activities (see for instance, Jian and Felsenfeld paper, PNAS, 2018: DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1803146115). Thus, it is felt critical that the authors perform RNAseq at the PP2 stage comparing control and the CRISPR-deleted stretch enhancer lines, to determine if there is influence on any other transcription factor(s) in development or bet cell function (or to see changes in in vitro phenotype).

We apologize that we did not make it clear that we had already generated such datasets and performed the suggested analyses. RNA-seq data comparing control and CRISPR-deleted LAMA1 stretch enhancer lines (ΔLAMA1Enh) at the PP2 stage are shown in Figure 4—figure supplement 1D, E. As shown in panel E we found minimal differences in the expression of transcription factors relevant to pancreas development between ΔLAMA1Enh and control PP2 cells, which led us to conclude that the enhancer deletion does not perturb pancreatic lineage induction. Similar RNA-seq analysis is shown comparing control and CRISPR-deleted CRB2 stretch enhancer lines (ΔCRB2Enh) at the PP2 stage in Figure 5—figure supplement 2D, E. Combined, these analyses argue against a developmental phenotype resulting from the enhancer deletions, even when considering genes outside of each enhancer’s topologically associated domain. The list of all differentially expressed genes in LAMA1 and CRB2 enhancer-deleted PP2 cells is included as Figure 4—source data 1 and 2 and Figure 5—source data 1, respectively.

Further, since enhancers were deleted in the hESC experiment, and the genes were deleted in the zebra fish experiment, it would be helpful to include deletion of the genes in the ES context (since it is clearly difficult to find a syntenic enhancer in the fish model).

We agree that deletion of LAMA1 and CRB2 in hESCs would help better link the hESC system to the zebrafish results. Therefore, we generated and characterized clonal lines harboring deletions of the LAMA1LAMA1) and CRB2CRB2) genes, respectively.

In agreement with our observations in the ΔLAMA1Enh and ΔCRB2Enh lines, we found that deletion of LAMA1 and CRB2 does not perturb pancreatic lineage induction, as evidenced by the number of PDX1- and NKX6.1-positive cells and the expression of transcription factors relevant to pancreas development. The results are shown in revised Figure 4—figure supplement 2 and Figure 5—figure supplement 3, respectively. These new findings highlight the need for an in vivo model to fully characterize the role of LAMA1 and CRB2 in pancreatic development.

Regarding modeling of the enhancer deletion in zebrafish, results of a Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis (Altschul et al., 1990), as well as examination of each enhancer region using the Evolutionarily Conserved Regions (ECR) Browser (Ovcharenko et al., 2004) revealed that the LAMA1 and CRB2 stretch enhancers are indeed not conserved in this species.

2) The authors modelled deletion of PSSEs associated with LAMA1 and CRB2 in an in vitro hESC differentiation system. Unfortunately, the mutations had no effect on the endocrine differentiation program in the hESC model. This may be due to the in vitro environment, where morphogenesis of the pancreas is not adequately recapitulated. To circumvent this problem, the authors used morpholino knockdowns in zebrafish embryos and found a reduced number of beta cells forming in the islet of the developing pancreas. Thus, they conclude that LAMA1 and CRB2 specifically affect pancreatic developmental programs, and suggest that aberrant developmental processes can predispose to T2D. In its present form, the work has potential but it requires essential additional data to support the central claims of the paper. Importantly, there are well-known issues with the anti-sense reagents, including unspecific effects and toxicity. Therefore, the consensus in the zebrafish field is that morpholino knockdown alone is an unreliable approach to assign new gene function. In fact, the number of beta cells that form in the zebrafish embryo would be highly sensitive to morpholino-related side-effects and toxicity. Therefore, the findings that Lama1 and Crb2b play a role in beta-cell development is at best unsubstantiated. To make this claim conclusive, the authors would need to show similar phenotypes using homozygous mutants in Lama1 and Crb2b or deletions in the corresponding enhancers in zebrafish.

Once a "clean" phenotype is demonstrated, it will be important to address several critical questions to strengthen the current analysis:

a) Is the reduction in beta-cell number due to a defect in beta-cell proliferation, differentiation or both?

b) Does Lama1 or Crb2b deficiency affect the specification, expansion or morphogenesis of the progenitor domains in the extra-pancreatic and/or intra-pancreatic ducts?

c) do the genes play a role in the formation of the dorsal- or ventral-bud-derived beta-cells or both?

d) Do the genes play a role in endocrine-cell migration, coalescence or clustering of the islet? and

e) Does the reduction in the number of beta cells have a functional consequence for glucose tolerance in the fish, either under homeostasis or upon metabolic challenges, such as high glucose incubation or egg-yolk feeding?

While it is true that morpholino knockdowns can have non-specific effects and give rise to phenotypes that are inconsistent with genetic deletions, prior publications have extensively validated the morpholinos used in our study against lama1 (Icha et al., 2016; Pollard et al., 2006; Randlett et al., 2011; Sidhaye and Norden, 2017; Yanakieva et al., 2019), crb2a (Omori and Malicki, 2006; Watanabe et al., 2010), and crb2b (Omori and Malicki, 2006). These studies validated efficacy for transcript and protein knockdown (Omori and Malicki, 2006; Randlett et al., 2011; Sidhaye and Norden, 2017) and demonstrated that the morphants phenocopy corresponding genetic mutants (Omori and Malicki, 2006). Of note, our controls for all morpholino experiments were embryos treated with non-targeting morpholinos rather than untreated embryos, therefore accounting for possible morpholino-based toxicity. We have provided additional information in the Materials and methods section of our manuscript to detail the extent to which these morpholinos have been previously validated.

While we agree that the suggestions for in-depth mechanistic studies in lama1 and crb2b zebrafish mutants are interesting and important, we find them to be well beyond the scope of this manuscript and could themselves be the focus of an entirely separate project and publication. We maintain that the objective of our study is to define a progenitor-specific contribution to T2D risk by integrating genome-wide association data with chromatin maps from stem cell models of human pancreatic development. In this context, our analysis of lama1 and crb2 zebrafish morphants serves to illustrate that pancreatic endocrine cell development is sensitive to lama1 and crb2 transcript levels. Given that individually most type 2 diabetes-associated regulatory variants have subtle effects on transcript levels, a detailed understanding of phenotypes caused by complete lama1 and crb2 loss-of function through genetic deletion in zebrafish is likely of minor relevance to understanding variant effects and mechanisms of T2D risk. In fact, we are concerned about the likely possibility that a complete loss-of-function of these critical structural genes in animals would lead to more profound developmental defects that would mask the more subtle pancreatic phenotypes revealed by partial knockdown and therefore prove inconclusive. These considerations drove our decision to use morpholinos rather than genetic mutants for this study. The suggested experiments would require a significant time commitment to generate and analyze “clean” mutants (>1 year) and substantial financial resources to address questions which we consider to be interesting, but ultimately would not alter the conclusions of our manuscript as a whole.

3) The mammalian antibodies used for IHC (anti-Lama1, anti-pan-Crb, and anti-pan-Crb2b) have not been validated in fish. The IHC should be repeated in Lama1 and Crb2b mutants or morphants. There should be a loss of signal in the pancreas if everything is as expected.

The anti-laminin antibody used in this study has been used in 105 zebrafish references. Relevant to our work, it has been validated, using the same morpholino for lama1 as used in our study (Randlett et al., 2011; Sidhaye and Norden, 2017). Likewise, the antipan-Crb antibody has also been previously validated (Hsu and Jensen, 2010).

Nevertheless, we have stained respective morphants with anti-laminin, anti-Crb2a, and anti-pan-Crb antibodies. We observed an absence of signal for laminin (revised Figure 6—figure supplement 2) and Crb2a (Figure 6—figure supplement 3) throughout development in embryos treated with lama1- and crb2a-specific morpholinos, respectively.

When staining embryos treated with morpholinos targeting Crb2a and Crb2b with the anti-pan-Crb antibody, we find that signal is lost in the ventral pancreas, where Nkx6.1+ pancreatic progenitor cells reside (Figure 6—figure supplement 3). Although we find residual signal in the dorsal pancreas, we note that the anti-pan-Crb antibody not only detects Crb2 proteins but also Crb1 and Crb3. Therefore, it is possible that other Crb proteins are expressed in the dorsal pancreas, which would not be affected by morpholinos targeting Crb2a and Crb2b.

In sum, our findings serve to validate both the efficacy of the morpholinos used in our knockdown experiments as well as the specificity of our selected antibodies.

Associated Data

    This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

    Data Citations

    1. Geusz RJ, Wang A, Chiou J, Lancman JJ, Wetton N, Kefalopoulou S, Wang J, Qiu Y, Yan J, Aylward A, Ren B, Si Dong PD, Gaulton KJ, Sander M. 2021. Pancreatic progenitor epigenome maps prioritize type 2 diabetes risk genes with roles in development. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE149148 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
    2. Xie R, Everett LJ, Lim HW, Patel NA, Schug J, Kroon E, Kelly OG, Wang A, D'Amour KA, Robins AJ, Won KJ, Kaestner KH, Sander M. 2013. ChIP-seq and RNA-seq of coding RNA of the progression of human embryonic stem cells to beta cells to characterize the epigenetic programs that underlie pancreas differentiation. ArrayExpress. E-MTAB-1086
    3. Jin W, Mulas F, Gaertner B, Sui Y, Wang J, Matta I, Zeng C, Vinckier N, Wang A, Nguyen-Ngoc K, Chiou J, Kaestner KH, Frazer KA, Carrano AC, Shih H. 2019. Identification of microRNA-dependent gene regulatory networks driving human pancreatic endocrine cell differentiation. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE115327
    4. Pasquali L, Gaulton KJ, Rodríguez-Seguí SA, Mularoni L, Miguel-Escalada I, Akerman I, Tena JJ, Morán I, Gómez-Marín C, van de Bunt M, Ponsa-Cobas J, Castro N, Nammo T, Cebola I, García-Hurtado J, Maestro MA, Pattou F, Piemonti L, Berney T, Gloyn AL, Ravassard P, Gómez-Skarmeta JL, Müller F, McCarthy MI, Ferrer J. 2014. Pancreatic islet epigenomics reveals enhancer clusters that are enriched in Type 2 diabetes risk variants. ArrayExpress. E-MTAB-1919 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
    5. Parker SC, Stitzel ML, Taylor DL, Orozco JM. 2013. Chromatin stretch enhancer states drive cell-specific gene regulation and harbor human disease risk variants (ChIP-seq) NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE51311 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
    6. Wang A, Yue F, Li Y, Xie R. 2015. Developmental Competence Encoded at the Level of Enhancers. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE54471
    7. Bhandare R, Schug J, Lay JL, Fox A, Smirnova O, Liu C, Naji A, Kaestner KH. 2010. ChIP-Seq of human normal pancreatic islets with anti-histone antibodies to analyse histone modifications. ArrayExpress. E-MTAB-189
    8. University of California San Diego 2015. ATAC-seq in pancreatic islet cells. NCBI BioProject. PRJNA527099
    9. 4DN Network. Ren Laboratory 2020. Replicates of Hi-C on CyT49 cells differentiated to pancreatic endoderm. 4D Nucleome. Sample4DNES0LVRKBM
    10. Lister R, Pelizzola M, Dowen RH, Hawkins RD, Hon G, Tonti-Filippini J, Nery JR, Lee L, Ye Z, Ngo Q, Edsall L, Antosiewicz-Bourget J, Stewart R, Ruotti V, Millar AH, Thomson JA, Ren B, Ecker JR. 2009. UCSD Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Projec. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE16256
    11. Bernstein BE, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Costello JF, Ren B, Milosavljevic A, Meissner A, Kellis M, Marra MA, Beaudet AL, Ecker JR, Farnham PJ, Hirst M, Lander ES, Mikkelsen TJ, Thomson JA. 2010. UCSF-UBC Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Project. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE16368
    12. Bernstein BE, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Costello JF, Ren B, Milosavljevic A, Meissner A, Kellis M, Marra MA, Beaudet AL, Ecker JR, Farnham PJ, Hirst M, Lander ES, Mikkelsen TJ, Thomson JA. 2009. BI Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Project. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE17312
    13. Bernstein BE, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Costello JF, Ren B, Milosavljevic A, Meissner A, Kellis M, Marra MA, Beaudet AL, Ecker JR, Farnham PJ, Hirst M, Lander ES, Mikkelsen TJ, Thomson JA. 2010. University of Washington Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Project. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE18927

    Supplementary Materials

    Figure 2—source data 1. Chromosomal coordinates of pancreatic progenitor-specific stretch enhancers (PSSE).
    Figure 2—source data 2. Enriched gene ontology terms for PSSE-associated genes.
    Figure 2—source data 3. Proportion of variants nominally associated with beta cell functional traits.
    Figure 2—source data 4. Tissue identity of downloaded data from ROADMAP consortium.
    Figure 4—source data 1. Genes downregulated in ∆LAMA1Enh PP2 stage cells compared to control cells (p adj. <0.05).
    Figure 4—source data 2. Genes upregulated in ∆LAMA1Enh PP2 stage cells compared to control cells (p adj. <0.05).
    Figure 5—source data 1. Genes downregulated in ∆CRB2Enh PP2 stage cells compared to control cells (p adj. <0.05).
    Transparent reporting form

    Data Availability Statement

    All mRNA-seq, ChIP-seq, and ATAC-seq datasets generated for this study have been deposited at GEO under the accession number GSE149148. Source data files have been provided for Figures 2, 4, and 5.

    The following dataset was generated:

    Geusz RJ, Wang A, Chiou J, Lancman JJ, Wetton N, Kefalopoulou S, Wang J, Qiu Y, Yan J, Aylward A, Ren B, Si Dong PD, Gaulton KJ, Sander M. 2021. Pancreatic progenitor epigenome maps prioritize type 2 diabetes risk genes with roles in development. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE149148

    The following previously published datasets were used:

    Xie R, Everett LJ, Lim HW, Patel NA, Schug J, Kroon E, Kelly OG, Wang A, D'Amour KA, Robins AJ, Won KJ, Kaestner KH, Sander M. 2013. ChIP-seq and RNA-seq of coding RNA of the progression of human embryonic stem cells to beta cells to characterize the epigenetic programs that underlie pancreas differentiation. ArrayExpress. E-MTAB-1086

    Jin W, Mulas F, Gaertner B, Sui Y, Wang J, Matta I, Zeng C, Vinckier N, Wang A, Nguyen-Ngoc K, Chiou J, Kaestner KH, Frazer KA, Carrano AC, Shih H. 2019. Identification of microRNA-dependent gene regulatory networks driving human pancreatic endocrine cell differentiation. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE115327

    Pasquali L, Gaulton KJ, Rodríguez-Seguí SA, Mularoni L, Miguel-Escalada I, Akerman I, Tena JJ, Morán I, Gómez-Marín C, van de Bunt M, Ponsa-Cobas J, Castro N, Nammo T, Cebola I, García-Hurtado J, Maestro MA, Pattou F, Piemonti L, Berney T, Gloyn AL, Ravassard P, Gómez-Skarmeta JL, Müller F, McCarthy MI, Ferrer J. 2014. Pancreatic islet epigenomics reveals enhancer clusters that are enriched in Type 2 diabetes risk variants. ArrayExpress. E-MTAB-1919

    Parker SC, Stitzel ML, Taylor DL, Orozco JM. 2013. Chromatin stretch enhancer states drive cell-specific gene regulation and harbor human disease risk variants (ChIP-seq) NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE51311

    Wang A, Yue F, Li Y, Xie R. 2015. Developmental Competence Encoded at the Level of Enhancers. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE54471

    Bhandare R, Schug J, Lay JL, Fox A, Smirnova O, Liu C, Naji A, Kaestner KH. 2010. ChIP-Seq of human normal pancreatic islets with anti-histone antibodies to analyse histone modifications. ArrayExpress. E-MTAB-189

    University of California San Diego 2015. ATAC-seq in pancreatic islet cells. NCBI BioProject. PRJNA527099

    4DN Network. Ren Laboratory 2020. Replicates of Hi-C on CyT49 cells differentiated to pancreatic endoderm. 4D Nucleome. Sample4DNES0LVRKBM

    Lister R, Pelizzola M, Dowen RH, Hawkins RD, Hon G, Tonti-Filippini J, Nery JR, Lee L, Ye Z, Ngo Q, Edsall L, Antosiewicz-Bourget J, Stewart R, Ruotti V, Millar AH, Thomson JA, Ren B, Ecker JR. 2009. UCSD Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Projec. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE16256

    Bernstein BE, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Costello JF, Ren B, Milosavljevic A, Meissner A, Kellis M, Marra MA, Beaudet AL, Ecker JR, Farnham PJ, Hirst M, Lander ES, Mikkelsen TJ, Thomson JA. 2010. UCSF-UBC Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Project. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE16368

    Bernstein BE, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Costello JF, Ren B, Milosavljevic A, Meissner A, Kellis M, Marra MA, Beaudet AL, Ecker JR, Farnham PJ, Hirst M, Lander ES, Mikkelsen TJ, Thomson JA. 2009. BI Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Project. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE17312

    Bernstein BE, Stamatoyannopoulos JA, Costello JF, Ren B, Milosavljevic A, Meissner A, Kellis M, Marra MA, Beaudet AL, Ecker JR, Farnham PJ, Hirst M, Lander ES, Mikkelsen TJ, Thomson JA. 2010. University of Washington Human Reference Epigenome Mapping Project. NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. GSE18927


    Articles from eLife are provided here courtesy of eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

    RESOURCES