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Current in vitro islet differentiation protocols suffer from heterogeneity and low efficiency. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from pancreatic beta cells (BiPSCs) preferentially differentiate toward endocrine pancreas-like cells versus those from fibroblasts (FiPSCs). We interrogated genome-wide open chromatin in BiPSCs and FiPSCs via ATAC-seq and identified ∼8.3k significant, differential open chromatin sites (DOCS) between the two iPSC subtypes (false discovery rate [FDR] < 0.05). DOCS where chromatin was more accessible in BiPSCs (Bi-DOCS) were significantly enriched for known regulators of endodermal development, including bivalent and weak enhancers, and FOXA2 binding sites (FDR < 0.05). Bi-DOCS were associated with genes related to pancreas development and beta-cell function, including transcription factors mutated in monogenic diabetes (PDX1, NKX2-2, HNF1A; FDR < 0.05). Moreover, Bi-DOCS correlated with enhanced gene expression in BiPSC-derived definitive endoderm and pancreatic progenitor cells. Bi-DOCS therefore highlight genes and pathways governing islet-lineage commitment, which can be exploited for differentiation protocol optimization, diabetes disease modeling, and therapeutic purposes.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.09.020

Type

Journal article

Journal

Stem Cell Reports

Publication Date

14/11/2017

Volume

9

Pages

1395 - 1405

Keywords

beta-cell, diabetes, endoderm differentiation, epigenetics, genomics, human iPS cell, pancreas, Cells, Cultured, Cellular Reprogramming, Chromatin, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1-alpha, Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 3-beta, Homeodomain Proteins, Humans, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Insulin-Secreting Cells, Protein Binding, Trans-Activators, Transcription Factors, Zebrafish Proteins