Integrating Enhancer RNA Signatures with Diverse Omics Data identifies characteristics of transcription initiation in pancreatic islets

Identifying active regulatory elements and their characteristics is critical to understand gene regulatory mechanisms and subsequently better delineating biological mechanisms of complex diseases and traits. Studies have shown that active enhancers can be transcribed into enhancer RNA (eRNA). We identified actively transcribed elements in human pancreatic islets by performing cap analysis of gene expression (CAGE) across 70 islet samples. We used the self-transcribing active regulatory region sequencing (STARR-seq) assay in a rat pancreatic islet beta cell line to experimentally validate the regulatory activity of the CAGE-identified transcribed elements.