SUMMARY Prostate cancer (PCa) is heterogeneous and contains both differentiated and undifferentiated tumor cells, but the relative functional contribution of these two cell populations remains unclear. Here we report distinct molecular, cellular, and tumor-propagating properties of PCa cells that express high (PSA+) and low (PSA−/lo) levels of the differentiation marker PSA. PSA−/lo PCa cells are quiescent and refractory to stresses including androgen deprivation, exhibit high clonogenic potential, and possess long-term tumor-propagating capacity. They preferentially express stem cell genes and can undergo asymmetric cell division generating PSA+ cells. Importantly, PSA−/lo PCa cells can initiate robust tumor development and resist androgen ablation in castrated hosts, and harbor highly tumorigenic castration-resistant PCa cells that can be prospectively enriched using ALDH+CD44+α2β1+ phenotype. In contrast, PSA+ PCa cells possess more limited tumor-propagating capacity, undergo symmetric division and are sensitive to castration. Together, our study suggests PSA−/lo cells may represent a critical source of castration-resistant PCa cells.

Cis-regulatory elements (CREs) are commonly recognized by correlative chromatin features, yet the molecular composition of the vast majority of CREs in chromatin remains unknown. Here, we describe a CRISPR affinity purification in situ of regulatory elements (CAPTURE) approach to unbiasedly identify locus-specific chromatin-regulating protein complexes and long-range DNA interactions. Using an in vivo biotinylated nuclease-deficient Cas9 protein and sequence-specific guide RNAs, we show high-resolution and selective isolation of chromatin interactions at a single-copy genomic locus. Purification of human telomeres using CAPTURE identifies known and new telomeric factors. In situ capture of individual constituents of the enhancer cluster controlling human β-globin genes establishes evidence for composition-based hierarchical organization. Furthermore, unbiased analysis of chromatin interactions at disease-associated cis-elements and developmentally regulated super-enhancers reveals spatial features that causally control gene transcription. Thus, comprehensive and unbiased analysis of locus-specific regulatory composition provides mechanistic insight into genome structure and function in development and disease.

The prostate gland mainly contains basal and luminal cells constructed as a pseudostratified epithelium. Annotation of prostate epithelial transcriptomes provides a foundation for discoveries that can impact disease understanding and treatment. Here we describe a genome-wide transcriptome analysis of human benign prostatic basal and luminal epithelial populations using deep RNA sequencing. Through molecular and biological characterizations, we show that the differential gene-expression profiles account for their distinct functional properties. Strikingly, basal cells preferentially express gene categories associated with stem cells, neurogenesis and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) biogenesis. Consistent with this profile, basal cells functionally exhibit intrinsic stem-like and neurogenic properties with enhanced rRNA transcription activity. Of clinical relevance, the basal cell gene-expression profile is enriched in advanced, anaplastic, castration-resistant and metastatic prostate cancers. Therefore, we link the cell-type-specific gene signatures to aggressive subtypes of prostate cancer and identify gene signatures associated with adverse clinical features.

SUMMARY Enhancers are the primary determinants of cell identity, but the regulatory components controlling enhancer turnover during lineage commitment remain largely unknown. Here we compare the enhancer landscape, transcriptional factor occupancy and transcriptomic changes in human fetal and adult hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and committed erythroid progenitors. We find that enhancers are modulated pervasively and direct lineage and stage-specific transcription. GATA2-to-GATA1 switch is prevalent at dynamic enhancers and drives erythroid enhancer commissioning. Examination of lineage-specific enhancers identifies TFs and their combinatorial patterns in enhancer turnover. Importantly, by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genomic editing, we uncover functional hierarchy of constituent enhancers within the SLC25A37 super-enhancer. Despite indistinguishable chromatin features, we reveal through genomic editing the functional diversity of several GATA switch enhancers in which enhancers with opposing functions cooperate to coordinate transcription. Thus, genome-wide enhancer profiling coupled with in situ enhancer editing provide critical insights into the functional complexity of enhancers during development.

Adult and fetal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) display a glycolytic phenotype, which is required for maintenance of stemness; however, whether mitochondrial respiration is required to maintain HSC function is not known. Here we report that loss of the mitochondrial complex III subunit Rieske iron sulfur protein (RISP) in fetal mouse HSCs allows them to proliferate but impairs their differentiation, resulting in anemia and prenatal death. RISP null fetal HSCs displayed impaired respiration resulting in a decreased NAD+/NADH ratio. RISP null fetal HSCs and progenitors exhibited an increase in both DNA and histone methylation associated with increases in 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG), a metabolite known to inhibit DNA and histone demethylases. RISP inactivation in adult HSCs also impaired respiration resulting in loss of quiescence concomitant with severe pancytopenia and lethality. Thus, respiration is dispensable for adult or fetal HSC proliferation, but essential for fetal HSC differentiation and maintenance of adult HSC quiescence.

Recent studies have highlighted super-enhancers (SEs) as important regulatory elements for gene expression, but their intrinsic properties remain incompletely characterized. Through an integrative analysis of Hi-C and ChIP-seq data, here we find that a significant fraction of SEs are hierarchically organized, containing both hub and non-hub enhancers. Hub enhancers share similar histone marks with non-hub enhancers, but are distinctly associated with cohesin and CTCF binding sites and disease-associated genetic variants. Genetic ablation of hub enhancers results in profound defects in gene activation and local chromatin landscape. As such, hub enhancers are the major constituents responsible for SE functional and structural organization.

Tissue-specific gene expression requires coordinated control of gene-proximal and-distal cisregulatory elements (CREs), yet functional analysis of gene-distal CREs such as enhancers remains challenging. Here we describe CRISPR/dCas9-based enhancer-targeting epigenetic editing systems, enCRISPRa and enCRISPRi, for efficient analysis of enhancer function in situ and in vivo. Using dual effectors capable of rewriting enhancer-associated chromatin modifications, we show that enCRISPRa and enCRISPRi modulate gene transcription by remodeling local epigenetic landscapes at sgRNA-targeted enhancers and associated genes. Comparing with existing methods, the improved systems display more robust perturbations of enhancer activity and gene transcription with minimal off-targets. Allele-specific targeting of enCRISPRa to oncogenic TAL1 super-enhancer modulates TAL1 expression and cancer progression in xenotransplants. Single or multi-loci perturbations of lineage-specific enhancers using an enCRISPRi knock-in mouse establish in vivo evidence for lineage-restricted essentiality of developmental enhancers during hematopoiesis. Hence, enhancer-targeting CRISPR epigenetic editing provides opportunities for interrogating enhancer function in native biological contexts.

SUMMARY Mammals have partially lost the extensive regenerative capabilities of some vertebrates, possibly as a result of chromatin-remodeling mechanisms that enforce terminal differentiation. Here, we show that deleting the SWI/SNF component Arid1a substantially improves mammalian regeneration. Arid1a expression is suppressed in regenerating tissues, and genetic deletion of Arid1a increases tissue repair following an array of injuries. Arid1a deficiency in the liver increases proliferation, reduces tissue damage and fibrosis, and improves organ function following surgical resection and chemical injuries. Hepatocyte-specific deletion is also sufficient to increase proliferation and regeneration without excessive overgrowth, and global Arid1a disruption potentiates soft tissue healing in the ear. We show Arid1a loss reprograms chromatin to restrict promoter access by transcription factors such as C/ebpα, which enforces differentiation, and E2F4, which suppresses cell cycle reentry. Thus, epigenetic reprogramming mediated by deletion of a single gene improves mammalian regeneration and suggests strategies to promote tissue repair after injury.