SUMMARY Enhancers control the correct temporal and cell type-specific activation of gene expression in higher eukaryotes. Knowing their properties, regulatory activity and targets is crucial to understand the regulation of differentiation and homeostasis. We use the FANTOM5 panel of samples covering the majority of human tissues and cell types to produce an atlas of active, in vivo transcribed enhancers. We show that enhancers share properties with CpG-poor mRNA promoters but produce bidirectional, exosome-sensitive, relatively short unspliced RNAs, the generation of which is strongly related to enhancer activity. The atlas is used to compare regulatory programs between different cells at unprecedented depth, identify disease-associated regulatory single nucleotide polymorphisms, and classify cell type-specific and ubiquitous enhancers. We further explore the utility of enhancer redundancy, which explains gene expression strength rather than expression patterns. The online FANTOM5 enhancer atlas represents a unique resource for studies on cell type-specific enhancers and gene regulation.

Regulated transcription controls the diversity, developmental pathways and spatial organization of the hundreds of cell types that make up a mammal. Using single-molecule cDNA sequencing, we mapped transcription start sites (TSSs) and their usage in human and mouse primary cells, cell lines and tissues to produce a comprehensive overview of mammalian gene expression across the human body. We find that few genes are truly ‘housekeeping’, whereas many mammalian promoters are composite entities composed of several closely separated TSSs, with independent cell-type-specific expression profiles. TSSs specific to different cell types evolve at different rates, whereas promoters of broadly expressed genes are the most conserved. Promoter-based expression analysis reveals key transcription factors defining cell states and links them to binding-site motifs. The functions of identified novel transcripts can be predicted by coexpression and sample ontology enrichment analyses. The functional annotation of the mammalian genome 5 (FANTOM5) project provides comprehensive expression profiles and functional annotation of mammalian cell-type-specific transcriptomes with wide applications in biomedical research.

Senescent and damaged mitochondria undergo selective mitophagic elimination through mechanisms requiring two Parkinson’s disease factors, the mitochondrial kinase PINK1 and the cytosolic ubiquitin ligase Parkin. The nature of the PINK-Parkin interaction and identity of key factors directing Parkin to damaged mitochondria are unknown. We show that the mitochondrial outer membrane GTPase mitofusin (Mfn) 2 mediates Parkin recruitment to damaged mitochondria. Parkin bound to Mfn2 in a PINK1-dependent manner; PINK1 phosphorylated Mfn2 and promoted its Parkin-mediated ubiqitination. Ablation of Mfn2 in mouse cardiac myocytes prevented depolarization-induced translocation of Parkin to the mitochondria and suppressed mitophagy. Accumulation of morphologically and functionally abnormal mitochondria induced respiratory dysfunction in Mfn2-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes, and in Parkin-deficient Drosophila heart tubes, causing dilated cardiomyopathy. Thus, Mfn2 functions as a mitochondrial receptor for Parkin, and is required for quality control of cardiac mitochondria.

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Small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) modification has emerged as an important posttranslational control of protein functions. Daxx, a transcriptional corepressor, was reported to repress the transcriptional potential of several transcription factors and target to PML oncogenic domains (PODs) via SUMO-dependent interactions. The mechanism by which Daxx binds to sumoylated factors mediating transcriptional and subnuclear compartmental regulation remains unclear. Here, we define a SUMO-interacting motif (SIM) within Daxx and show it to be crucial for targeting Daxx to PODs and for transrepression of several sumoylated transcription factors, including glucocorticoid receptor (GR). In addition, the capability of Daxx SIM to bind SUMO also controls Daxx sumoylation. We further demonstrate that arsenic trioxide-induced sumoylation of PML correlates with a change of endogenous Daxx partitioning from GR-regulated gene promoter to PODs and a relief of Daxx repression on GR target gene expression. Our results provide mechanistic insights into Daxx in SUMO-dependent transcriptional control and subnuclear compartmentalization.

Photoacoustic signal generation by metal nanoparticles relies on the efficient conversion of light to heat, its transfer to the environment and the production of pressure transients. In this study we demonstrate that a dielectric shell has a strong influence on the amplitude of the generated photoacoustic signal, and that silica coated gold nanorods of the same optical density are capable of producing about 3-fold higher photoacoustic signals than nanorods without silica coating. Spectrophotometry measurements and finite difference time domain (FDTD) analysis of gold nanorods before and after silica coating showed only an insignificant change of the extinction and absorption cross-sections, hence indicating that the enhancement is not attributable to changes in absorption cross-section resulting from the silica coating. Several factors including the silica thickness, the gold/silica interface, and the surrounding solvent were varied to investigate their effect on the photoacoustic signal produced from silica-coated gold nanorods. The results suggest that the enhancement is caused by the reduction of the gold interfacial thermal resistance with the solvent due to the silica coating. The strong contrast enhancement in photoacoustic imaging, demonstrated using phantoms with silica-coated nanorods, shows that these hybrid particles acting as "photoacoustic nano-amplifiers" are high efficiency contrast agents for photoacoustic imaging or photoacoustic image-guided therapy. KeywordsPhotoacoustic imaging; silica coated-gold nanorods; photoacoustic nano-amplifiers; medical and biological imaging; contrast agents Photoacoustic imaging is a non-ionizing and noninvasive imaging modality that combines the advantages of both optical and acoustic imaging. [1][2][3][4] In photoacoustic imaging, the intensity modulated electromagnetic radiation, e.g. a beam of pulsed laser light, is directed at the imaging target. The light is absorbed and converted to an outgoing thermoacoustic wave that can be detected by an ultrasound transducer and used to reconstruct images.5 -8 Since light is only used for heating and not for imaging, and acoustic waves are less scattered in optically turbid materials such as tissue, photoacoustic imaging can reach far deeper into turbid materials than purely optical imaging techniques.8 -9 The contrast in photoacoustic * To whom correspondence should be addressed. Telephone: (512) 471-1733. Fax: (512) imaging depends on the optical-to-acoustic conversion (optoacoustic) efficiency, i.e., how many incident photons can be absorbed and converted to heat, and how fast the generated heat can diffuse out from the target during thermoelastic expansion and wave generation. When a uniformly absorbing target is irradiated by pulsed light, the amplitude of the generated photoacoustic signal is proportional to the optical absorption and the thermalacoustic properties of the absorbing medium. In contrast, in a heterogeneous medium such as a weakly absorbing solvent containing plasmonic nanoparticles, the amp...

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Summary How mitochondrial dynamism (fission and fusion) affects mitochondrial quality control is unclear. We uncovered distinct effects on mitophagy of inhibiting Drp1-mediated mitochondrial fission versus mitofusin-mediated mitochondrial fusion. Conditional cardiomyocyte-specific Drp1 ablation evoked mitochondrial enlargement, lethal dilated cardiomyopathy, and cardiomyocyte necrosis. Conditionally ablating cardiomyocyte mitofusins (Mfn) caused mitochondrial fragmentation with eccentric remodeling and no cardiomyocyte dropout. Parallel studies in cultured murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and in vivo mouse hearts revealed that Mfn1/Mfn2 deletion provoked accumulation of defective mitochondria exhibiting an unfolded protein response, without appropriately increasing mitophagy. Conversely, interrupting mitochondrial fission by Drp1 ablation increased mitophagy and caused a generalized loss of mitochondria. Mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) opening in Drp1 null mitochondria was associated with mitophagy in MEFs and contributed to cardiomyocyte necrosis and dilated cardiomyopathy in mice. Drp1, MPTP, and cardiomyocyte mitophagy are functionally integrated. Mitochondrial fission and fusion have opposing roles during in vivo cardiac mitochondrial quality control.