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| Poster #279 The Role of Chromatin Structure in Regulating Vomeronasal Receptor Expression |
| Kevin Monahan, Jerome Kahiapo, Nader Boutros Ghali Rutgers University, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Piscataway, NJ, United States |
Mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs) detect chemical signals present in the environment using G-protein coupled receptors from three families: the type I and type II vomeronasal receptors (V1Rs and V2Rs), and the formyl peptide receptor family (FPRs). The expression of vomeronasal receptors is tightly controlled, with singular monoallelic expression characterizing V1Rs and coordinated co-expression characterizing V2Rs, but little is known about the gene regulatory processes that control receptor choice. Here, we elucidate the role of chromatin structure and 3D genome folding in regulating vomeronasal receptor expression. We identify candidate regulatory DNA elements active in the vomeronasal organ using ATAC-seq and ChIP-seq from whole VNO tissue. We then use single-cell multiome profiling to identify regions of open chromatin and sequence motifs associated with each class of vomeronasal sensory neuron. In parallel we have used Hi-C to map the spatial organization of the genome in purified vomeronasal sensory neurons, which has allowed us to generate genome-wide maps of regions of open and closed chromatin and topologically associating domains. By combining these data sets we have identified candidate regulatory elements for the regulation of vomeronasal receptor gene choice. |