The Super-Enhancer-Derived alncRNA-EC7/Bloodlinc Potentiates Red Blood Cell Development in trans

Abstract

Summary: Enhancer-derived RNAs are thought to act locally by contributing to their parent enhancer function. Whether large domains of clustered enhancers (super-enhancers) also produce cis-acting RNAs, however, remains unclear. Unlike typical enhancers, super-enhancers form large spans of robustly transcribed chromatin, amassing capped and polyadenylated RNAs that are sufficiently abundant to sustain trans functions. Here, we show that one such RNA, alncRNA-EC7/Bloodlinc, is transcribed from a super-enhancer of the erythroid membrane transporter SLC4A1/BAND3 but diffuses beyond this site. Bloodlinc localizes to trans-chromosomal loci encoding critical regulators and effectors of terminal erythropoiesis and directly binds chromatin-organizing and transcription factors, including the chromatin attachment factor HNRNPU. Inhibiting Bloodlinc or Hnrnpu compromises the terminal erythropoiesis gene program, blocking red cell production, whereas expressing Bloodlinc ectopically stimulates this program and can promote erythroblast proliferation and enucleation in the absence of differentiation stimuli. Thus, Bloodlinc is a trans-acting super-enhancer RNA that potentiates red blood cell development. : Alvarez-Dominguez et al. report that unlike typical enhancers, super-enhancers accumulate RNAs sufficiently abundant and stable to sustain trans functions. One such RNA, Bloodlinc, associates with chromatin and transcription cofactors, binds distal loci encoding key effectors of terminal erythropoiesis, and modulates their expression, thereby potentiating red blood cell development in trans. Keywords: enhancer RNA, super-enhancer, long non-coding RNA, erythropoiesis, red blood cell