bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.05.438382; this version posted April 5, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Comprehensive multi-omics integration identifies differentially active enhancers during human brain development with clinical relevance Soheil Yousefi 1, Ruizhi Deng 1*, Kristina Lanko 1*, Eva Medico Salsench 1*, Anita Nikoncuk 1*, Herma C. van der Linde 1, Elena Perenthaler 1, Tjakko van Ham 1, Eskeatnaf Mulugeta 2#, Tahsin Stefan Barakat 1# 1 Department of Clinical Genetics, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2 Department of Cell Biology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands * equal contribution # corresponding authors:
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[email protected] Abstract Background: Non-coding regulatory elements (NCREs), such as enhancers, play a crucial role in gene regulation and genetic aberrations in NCREs can lead to human disease, including brain disorders. The human brain is complex and can be affected by numerous disorders; many of these are caused by genetic changes, but a multitude remain currently unexplained. Understanding NCREs acting during brain development has the potential to shed light on previously unrecognised genetic causes of human brain disease. Despite immense community- wide efforts to understand the role of the non-coding genome and NCREs, annotating functional NCREs remains challenging. Results: Here we performed an integrative computational analysis of virtually all currently available epigenome data sets related to human fetal brain. Our in-depth analysis unravels 39,709 differentially active enhancers (DAEs) that show dynamic epigenomic rearrangement during early stages of human brain development, indicating likely biological function.