Rapid enhancer-dependent gene activation in MCF7 cells in response to estradiol.

Estrogen-receptor alpha (ERα)-dependent enhancers in the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 are a well-studied model system that allows high temporal resolution tracking of the different molecular events after hormone treatment and in which the enhancer and their target genes, as well as many of the molecular mechanisms operating in enhancer activation, are well defined. We use nascent RNA-seq (TT-seq) across a time course (5, 30 and 60 min) after E2 addition to MCF-7 cells which had been extensively starved of hormone to assess the transcription dynamics of E2-responsive genes and enhancers and to link this with other aspects of rapid gene activation under study, i.e. enhancer-promoter communication. TT-seq of MCF7 cells, hormone starved for 4 days and treated with vehicle or E2 for 5, 30 or 60 minutes and a 4Su pulse of 5 minutes. Two biological replicates per time point were done.