Differential open chromatin profile and transcriptomic signature define depot-specific human subcutaneous preadipocytes [RNA-seq]

RNA-seq experiments revealed an A-fat and GF-fat selective gene expression signature, with 126 genes up-regulated in abdominal preadipocytes and 90 genes up-regulated in GF cells. Assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with high throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) identified almost 10-times more A-specific chromatin-accessible regions. Using a combined analysis of ATAC-seq and global gene expression data, we identified 74 of the 126 abdominal-specific genes (59%) with A-specific accessible chromatin sites within 200kb of the transcription start site (TSS). Interestingly, only 14 of the 90 GF-specific genes (15%) had GF-specific accessible chromatin sites within 200kb of the corresponding TSS, whereas 25 of them (28%) had abdominal-specific accessible chromatin sites. Overall design: Preadipocytes cultured from A and GF adipose tissue obtained from premenopausal apple-shaped women were used to perform transcriptome analysis by RNA-seq and assess accessible chromatin regions by ATAC-seq.