Global patterns of enhancer activity during sea urchin embryogenesis assessed by eRNA profiling

Abstract

We used CAGE-seq (Capped Analysis of Gene Expression with Sequencing) to profile eRNA expression and enhancer activity during embryogenesis of a model echinoderm- the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. We identified >18,000 enhancers that were active in mature oocytes and developing embryos and documented a burst of enhancer activation during cleavage and early blastula stages. We found that a large fraction (73.8%) of all enhancers active during the first 48 hr of embryogenesis were hyperaccessible no later than the 128-cell stage, and possibly even earlier. Most enhancers were located near gene bodies and temporal patterns of eRNA expression tended to parallel those of nearby genes. Furthermore, enhancers near lineage-specific genes contained signatures of inputs from developmental gene regulatory networks deployed in those lineages. A large fraction (60%) of sea urchin enhancers previously shown to be active in transgenic reporter assays were associated with eRNA expression. Moreover, a large fraction (50%) of a representative subset of enhancers identified by eRNA profiling drove tissue-specific gene expression in isolation when tested by reporter assays. Our findings provide an atlas of developmental enhancers in a model sea urchin and support the utility of eRNA profiling as a tool for enhancer discovery and regulatory biology. The data generated in this study are available at Echinobase, the public database of information related to echinoderm genomics.