RNA-seq transcriptonal profiling in human K562 cells and G1E-ER4 cells with or without dCas9 and sgRNAs

The spatiotemporal control of 3D chromatin structure is fundamental for gene regulation, yet it remains challenging to obtain high-resolution chromatin interacting profiles at cis-regulatory elements (CREs) by chromatin conformation capture (3C)-based methods. Here, we describe the redesigned dCas9-based CAPTURE method for multiplexed, high-throughput and high-resolution analysis of locus-specific chromatin interactions. Using C-terminally biotinylated dCas9, endogenous biotin ligase and pooled sgRNAs, the new system enables quantitative analysis of the spatial configuration of a few to hundreds of enhancers or promoters in a single experiment, enabling systematic comparisons across CREs within and between gene clusters. We reveal the hierarchical structure of super-enhancers (SEs) and distinct modes of SE-gene interactions. Multiplexed capture of temporal dynamics of promoter-centric interactions establishes the instructive function of enhancer-promoter looping in transcriptional regulation during lineage differentiation. These applications illustrate the ability of multiplexed CAPTURE for decoding the organizational principles of genome structure and function. Overall design: RNA-seq was performed to determine the effects on global gene expression in K562 or G1ER-ER4 cells stably expressing dCas9-CBio and sgRNAs, or erythroid differentiation of G1ER-ER4 cells.