Cohesin loading at regulatory elements shapes 3D genome folding during erythropoiesis [RNA-Seq]

During erythropoiesis, differentiating cells silence much of the genome while maintaining high expression of select genes. It remains unclear whether this transcriptional specialization is linked to specific changes in 3D genome organization. We generated deep Micro-C maps across human erythropoiesis to understand the relationship between cis-regulatory elements and cohesin-mediated loop extrusion during erythroid differentiation. Shifts in erythroid 3D genome structure during differentiation and under perturbations of transcription factors and cohesin subunits/cofactors indicates that a subset of CREs concentrate loop extrusion near key genes during erythroid differentiation.