Dysregulation of cis-regulatory elements that drive pancreatic islet cell gene transcription could underlie diabetes mellitus, a new study suggests. Researchers have identified genomic sequences that reside predominantly in clusters of enhancers and form functional 3D chromatin domains. These enhancers were bound by key β-cell transcription factors, such as FoxA2 and PDX-1, and drove islet-specific gene expression in human islet samples. Sequence variation in these regions was associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and variation in fasting glycaemia levels.
References
Pasquali, L. et al. Pancreatic islet enhancer clusters enriched in type 2 diabetes risk-associated variants. Nat. Genet. 10.1038/ng.2870
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mechanistic insights from islet genome regulation. Nat Rev Endocrinol 10, 190 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2014.8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2014.8