Computational prediction of CTCF/cohesin-based intra-TAD (sbTAD) loops that insulate chromatin contacts and gene expression in mouse liver

This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below, and presents the high throuput sequencing datasets that were generated as part of a larger study that investigates the role of CTCF and cohesin as key drivers of 3D-nuclear organization, anchoring the megabase-scale Topologically Associating Domains (TADs) that segment the genome. This study presents and validates a computational method to predict cohesin-and-CTCF binding sites that form intra-TAD DNA loops. The intra-TAD loop anchors identified are structurally indistinguishable from TAD anchors regarding binding partners, sequence conservation, and resistance to cohesin knockdown; further, the intra-TAD loops retain key functional features of TADs, including chromatin contact insulation, blockage of repressive histone mark spread, and ubiquity across tissues. The intra-TAD loops are proposed to be formed by the same loop extrusion mechanism as the larger TAD loops; their shorter length enables finer regulatory control in restricting enhancer-promoter interactions, which enables selective, high-level expression of gene targets of super-enhancers and genes located within repressive nuclear compartments. These findings elucidate the role of intra-TAD cohesin-and-CTCF binding in nuclear organization associated with widespread insulation of distal enhancer activity. Refer to individual Series