Integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes.

Anshul Kundaje, Wouter Meuleman, Jason Ernst, Misha Bilenky, Angela Yen, Alireza Heravi-Moussavi, Pouya Kheradpour, Zhizhuo Zhang, Jianrong Wang, Michael J Ziller, Viren Amin, John W Whitaker, Matthew D Schultz, Lucas D Ward, Abhishek Sarkar, Gerald Quon, Richard S Sandstrom, Matthew L Eaton, Yi-Chieh Wu, Andreas R Pfenning, Xinchen Wang, Melina Claussnitzer, Yaping Liu, Cristian Coarfa, R Alan Harris, Noam Shoresh, Charles B Epstein, Elizabeta Gjoneska, Danny Leung, Wei Xie, R David Hawkins, Ryan Lister, Chibo Hong, Philippe Gascard, Andrew J Mungall, Richard Moore, Eric Chuah, Angela Tam, Theresa K Canfield, R Scott Hansen, Rajinder Kaul, Peter J Sabo, Mukul S Bansal, Annaick Carles, Jesse R Dixon, Kai-How Farh, Soheil Feizi, Rosa Karlic, Ah-Ram Kim, Ashwinikumar Kulkarni, Daofeng Li, Rebecca Lowdon, GiNell Elliott, Tim R Mercer, Shane J Neph, Vitor Onuchic, Paz Polak, Nisha Rajagopal, Pradipta Ray, Richard C Sallari, Kyle T Siebenthall, Nicholas A Sinnott-Armstrong, Michael Stevens, Robert E Thurman, Jie Wu, Bo Zhang, Xin Zhou, Arthur E Beaudet, Laurie A Boyer, Philip L De Jager, Peggy J Farnham, Susan J Fisher, David Haussler, Steven J M Jones, Wei Li, Marco A Marra, Michael T McManus, Shamil Sunyaev, James A Thomson, Thea D Tlsty, Li-Huei Tsai, Wei Wang, Robert A Waterland, Michael Q Zhang, Lisa H Chadwick, Bradley E Bernstein, Joseph F Costello, Joseph R Ecker, Martin Hirst, Alexander Meissner, Aleksandar Milosavljevic, Bing Ren, John A Stamatoyannopoulos, Ting Wang, Manolis Kellis

Index: Nature 518(7539) , 317-30, (2015)

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Abstract

The reference human genome sequence set the stage for studies of genetic variation and its association with human disease, but epigenomic studies lack a similar reference. To address this need, the NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Consortium generated the largest collection so far of human epigenomes for primary cells and tissues. Here we describe the integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes generated as part of the programme, profiled for histone modification patterns, DNA accessibility, DNA methylation and RNA expression. We establish global maps of regulatory elements, define regulatory modules of coordinated activity, and their likely activators and repressors. We show that disease- and trait-associated genetic variants are enriched in tissue-specific epigenomic marks, revealing biologically relevant cell types for diverse human traits, and providing a resource for interpreting the molecular basis of human disease. Our results demonstrate the central role of epigenomic information for understanding gene regulation, cellular differentiation and human disease.