Retroviruses Hijack Chromatin Loops to Drive Oncogene Expression and Highlight the Chromatin Architecture around Proto-Oncogenic Loci

The majority of the genome consists of intergenic and non-coding DNA sequences shown to play a major role in different gene regulatory networks. However, the specific potency of these distal elements as well as how these regions exert function across large genomic distances remains unclear. To address these unresolved issues, we closely examined the chromatin architecture around proto-oncogenic loci in the mouse and human genomes to demonstrate a functional role for chromatin looping in distal gene regulation. Using cell culture models, we show that tumorigenic retroviral integration sites within the mouse genome occur near existing large chromatin loops and that this chromatin architecture is maintained within the human genome as well. Significantly, as mutagenesis screens are not feasible in humans, we demonstrate a way to leverage existing screens in mice to identify disease relevant human enhancers and expose novel disease mechanisms. For instance, we characterize the epigenetic landscape upstream of the human Cyclin D1 locus to find multiple distal interactions that contribute to the complex cis-regulation of this cell cycle gene. Furthermore, we characterize a novel distal interaction upstream of the Cyclin D1 gene which provides mechanistic evidence for the abundant overexpression of Cyclin D1 occurring in multiple myeloma cells harboring a pathogenic translocation event. Through use of mapped retroviral integrations and translocation breakpoints, our studies highlight the importance of chromatin looping in oncogene expression, elucidate the epigenetic mechanisms crucial for distal cis-regulation, and in one particular instance, explain how a translocation event drives tumorigenesis through upregulation of a proto-oncogene.