Chromatin Conformation Links Distal Target Genes to CKD Loci
BASIC RESEARCH www.jasn.org Chromatin Conformation Links Distal Target Genes to CKD Loci Maarten M. Brandt,1 Claartje A. Meddens,2,3 Laura Louzao-Martinez,4 Noortje A.M. van den Dungen,5,6 Nico R. Lansu,2,3,6 Edward E.S. Nieuwenhuis,2 Dirk J. Duncker,1 Marianne C. Verhaar,4 Jaap A. Joles,4 Michal Mokry,2,3,6 and Caroline Cheng1,4 1Experimental Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Thoraxcenter Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; and 2Department of Pediatrics, Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, 3Regenerative Medicine Center Utrecht, Department of Pediatrics, 4Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Division of Internal Medicine and Dermatology, 5Department of Cardiology, Division Heart and Lungs, and 6Epigenomics Facility, Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands ABSTRACT Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified many genetic risk factors for CKD. However, linking common variants to genes that are causal for CKD etiology remains challenging. By adapting self-transcribing active regulatory region sequencing, we evaluated the effect of genetic variation on DNA regulatory elements (DREs). Variants in linkage with the CKD-associated single-nucleotide polymorphism rs11959928 were shown to affect DRE function, illustrating that genes regulated by DREs colocalizing with CKD-associated variation can be dysregulated and therefore, considered as CKD candidate genes. To identify target genes of these DREs, we used circular chro- mosome conformation capture (4C) sequencing on glomerular endothelial cells and renal tubular epithelial cells. Our 4C analyses revealed interactions of CKD-associated susceptibility regions with the transcriptional start sites of 304 target genes. Overlap with multiple databases confirmed that many of these target genes are involved in kidney homeostasis.
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