Genome-wide interference of chromatin architecture and Mediator in transcriptional bursting and gene network regulation

Gene expression is a stochastic process that occurs in bursts of RNA synthesis. We applied a mathematical model to scRNA-Seq data to infer bursting dynamics transcriptome-wide under multiple perturbations in a wide range of cell types and identified possible molecular mechanisms. We find that mediator complex subunit MED26 primarily regulates frequency, MYC regulates burst size, while cohesin and super-enhancers can modulate both. Despite comparable effect sizes on RNA levels amongst these perturbations, we find that acute depletion of MED26 plays a larger role in perturbing gene regulatory networks. Furthermore, this perturbation acts downstream of both chromatin spatial architecture and preinitiation complex formation, indicating that later steps in the initiation of transcriptional bursts are primary nodes for integrating gene networks in single cells.