CRISPR tiling deletion screens reveal functional enhancers and allelic compensation effects (ACE) on SIN3A transcription

Abstract

Precise transcriptional regulation is critical for cellular function and development, yet the mechanism of this process remains poorly understood for many genes. To gain a deeper understanding of the regulation of neuropsychiatric disease risk genes, we identify a total of 39 functional enhancers for four dosage-sensitive genes, APP, FMR1, MECP2, and SIN3A, using CRISPR tiling deletion screening in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-induced excitatory neurons. More importantly, we discover that allelic enhancer deletions at SIN3A could be compensated by increased transcriptional activities from the other intact allele. Such allelic compensation effects (ACE) on transcription are stably maintained during differentiation and, once established, cannot be reversed by ectopic SIN3A expression. Further, ACE at SIN3A occurs through dosage sensing by the promoter. Together, our findings unravel a regulatory compensation mechanism that ensures stable and precise transcriptional output for SIN3A, and potentially other dosage-sensitive genes.