Welcome to eRNA-QTL atlas!

Enhancers are the primary DNA regulatory elements that mediate transcriptional regulation by binding and interacting with promoters, transcription factors (TFs), and RNA polymerase II (RNAP II). They are driving the tissue-specific and cell type-specific gene expression. Typically, enhancers activity is marked by lysin 27 acetylation (H3K27ac) and histone H3 lysine 4 monomethylation (H3K4me1). In contrast, H3K27me3 and H3K9me3 are an indicator of inactive/poised enhancers. Recently, a better indicator of enhancer activity termed enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) has been discovered, broadly transcribed bidirectional or unidirectional non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) across numerous cell types and tissues. The expression level of eRNAs is highly correlated with enhancer activity, enhancer-promoter looping, and the transcription of neighboring target protein-coding genes, suggesting that eRNAs could play in many regulated programs of gene transcription.