Genome-wide enhancer identification by massively parallel reporter assay in Arabidopsis.

Enhancers are critical cis-regulatory elements controlling gene expression during cell development and differentiation. However, genome-wide enhancer characterization has been challenging due to the lack of a well-defined relationship between enhancers and genes. Function-based methods are the gold standard for determining the biological function of cis-regulatory elements; however, these methods have not been widely applied to plants. Here, we applied a massively parallel reporter assay on Arabidopsis to measure enhancer activities across the genome. We identified 4327 enhancers with various combinations of epigenetic modifications distinctively different from animal enhancers. Furthermore, we showed that enhancers differ from promoters in their preference for transcription factors. Although some enhancers are not conserved and overlap with transposable elements forming clusters, enhancers are generally conserved across thousand Arabidopsis accessions, suggesting they are selected under evolution pressure and could play critical roles in the regulation of important genes. Moreover, comparison analysis reveals that enhancers identified by different strategies do not overlap, suggesting these methods are complementary in nature. In sum, we systematically investigated the features of enhancers identified by functional assay in A. thaliana, which lays the foundation for further investigation into enhancers' functional mechanisms in plants.

Characterization of polymorphic microsatellite markers in Pinus armandii (Pinaceae), an endemic conifer species to China.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Pinus armandii (Pinaceae) is an important conifer tree species in central and southwestern China, and it plays a key role in the local forest ecosystems. To investigate its population genetics and design effective conservation strategies, we characterized 18 polymorphic microsatellite markers for this species. METHODS AND RESULTS: Eighteen novel polymorphic and 16 monomorphic microsatellite loci of P. armandii were isolated using Illumina MiSeq technology. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to five. The expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.061 to 0.609 with an average of 0.384, and the observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.063 to 0.947 with an average of 0.436. Seventeen loci could be successfully transferred to five related Pinus species (P. koraiensis, P. griffithii, P. sibirica, P. pumila, and P. bungeana). CONCLUSIONS: These novel microsatellites could potentially be used to investigate the population genetics of P. armandii and related species.