Stress-induced RNA-chromatin interactions promote endothelial dysfunction

Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 15;11(1):5211. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18957-w.

Abstract

Chromatin-associated RNA (caRNA) has been proposed as a type of epigenomic modifier. Here, we test whether environmental stress can induce cellular dysfunction through modulating RNA-chromatin interactions. We induce endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction with high glucose and TNFα (H + T), that mimic the common stress in diabetes mellitus. We characterize the H + T-induced changes in gene expression by single cell (sc)RNA-seq, DNA interactions by Hi-C, and RNA-chromatin interactions by iMARGI. H + T induce inter-chromosomal RNA-chromatin interactions, particularly among the super enhancers. To test the causal relationship between H + T-induced RNA-chromatin interactions and the expression of EC dysfunction-related genes, we suppress the LINC00607 RNA. This suppression attenuates the expression of SERPINE1, a critical pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic gene. Furthermore, the changes of the co-expression gene network between diabetic and healthy donor-derived ECs corroborate the H + T-induced RNA-chromatin interactions. Taken together, caRNA-mediated dysregulation of gene expression modulates EC dysfunction, a crucial mechanism underlying numerous diseases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chromatin / physiology*
  • DNA / metabolism
  • Diabetes Mellitus / genetics
  • Diabetes Mellitus / metabolism
  • Endothelial Cells / metabolism*
  • Epigenomics
  • Gene Expression / drug effects
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Glucose / metabolism
  • Glucose / pharmacology
  • Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
  • Humans
  • Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 / genetics
  • Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 / metabolism
  • RNA / metabolism*
  • Stress, Physiological / physiology*
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / metabolism
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / pharmacology

Substances

  • Chromatin
  • Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1
  • SERPINE1 protein, human
  • TNF protein, human
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
  • RNA
  • DNA
  • Glucose