BIOSS
Centre for Biological Signalling Studies

Distinct epigenetic programs regulate cardiac myocyte development and disease in the human heart in vivo

Gilsbach R, Schwaderer M, Preissl S, Grüning BA, Kranzhöfer D, Schneider P, Nührenberg TG, Mulero-Navarro S, Weichenhan D, Braun C, Dreßen M, Jacobs AR, Lahm H, Doenst T, Backofen R, Krane M, Gelb BD, Hein L.

Nat Commun. 2018;9(1):391

Nat Commun.           online article

Epigenetic mechanisms are crucial for cell identity and transcriptional control. Epigenome analysis of human cardiac myocytes unraveled distinct layers of epigenetic regulation not only during pre- and postnatal development but also in disease. Genome wide signatures of histone modification allowed the identification of more than 100.000 cis-regulatory regions. Notably, cis-regulatory regions in cardiac myocytes were significantly enriched for cardiovascular disease-associated variants.