What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to understand how distal enhancers and histone modifications regulate early embryonic lineage differentiation.

January 23, 2026Nucleic Acids ResearchOpen Access

Distal enhancers regulate mammalian early embryonic lineage differentiation through long-range interactions

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

Demonstrates that distal enhancers influence lineage differentiation in embryos, suggesting a crucial regulatory role.

The aim is to understand how distal enhancers and histone modifications regulate early embryonic lineage differentiation.
Utilized ultra-low-input multi-omics to profile histone modifications, chromatin accessibility, and transcriptome.
Analyzed lineage-specific H3K27ac enrichment at distal enhancers in trophectoderm and inner cell mass.
Examined enhancer–promoter loops and identified key transcription factors involved in the process.
Functionally validated the roles of BRD4, p300, and YY1.
Conducted cross-species comparisons between mice and humans.
H3K27ac was predominantly enriched at distal enhancers rather than at promoters in embryos.
Distal enhancer activity, enhanced by H3K27ac, was crucial for lineage-specific gene expression.
CBP/p300 inhibition disrupted distal enhancers significantly, affecting placenta-related genes.
Lineage-specific enhancer–promoter loops were identified, indicating long-range chromatin interactions.
Stronger conservation of H3K27ac was observed in the trophectoderm compared to the inner cell mass.

Zhu et al. (2026) studied this question.

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark