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DocumentationHow to use the database?

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Introduction

What is dbSUPER ?

dbSUPER is the first database of super-enhancers, which contains a catalog of which contains 68508 super-enhancers in 99 human and 5 mouse tissue/cell types.

This database has been built with the explicit goal of providing a resource for further study of transcriptional control of cell identity, and meantime making the UI more responsive and user friendly. Using this interactive user interface researchers can search and browse data and also can export directly to Galaxy and GREAT server for further analysis. Data can be visualized in UCSC genome browser and also can be downloaded in BED, FASTA and UCSC custom tack format. It also provides an overlap analysis tool, which can be used to check the overlap of user predicted enhancers/super-enhancers with the database.

Overview of super-enhancer identification, data integration, and dbSUPER workflow and features.

Super-enhancers and their importance in gene expression

Super-enhancers are cluster of transcriptional enhancers that drive cell-type-specific gene expression programs [Whyte, W.A. Cell, 2013]. Many disease-associated variations are especially enriched in the super-enhancers of disease-relevant cell types [Lovén, J. Cell, 2013]. Super-Enhancers can be used as biomarkers for disease diagnosis and therapy [Hnisz, D. Cell, 2013]. Thus, super-enhancers can play key role in mammalian cell identity and disease. As super-enhancers are cell type specific so their identification and characterization is useful rather than exploring thousands of enhancers operating in a cell.

Data Sources

Super-enhancers are discovered by Young's Lab at MIT using the ChIP-seq data.

A detailed description related to super-enhancer identification and characterization by ChIP-seq can be found in the following publications:

  • Whyte W.A., et al. (2013). Master transcription factors and mediator establish super-enhancers at key cell identity genes. Cell 153, 307–319.
  • Hnisz D., et al. (2013). Super-Enhancers in the Control of Cell Identity and Disease. Cell 155: 937-937.
  • Chapuy B., et al. (2013). Discovery and characterization of super-enhancer-associated dependencies in diffuse large B cell lymphoma. Cell 24: 777-790.
  • Lovén J., et al. (2013). Selective Inhibition of Tumor Oncogenes by Disruption of Super-enhancers. Cell 153, 320-334.
  • Christensen C.L., et al. (2014). Targeting Transcriptional Addictions in Small Cell Lung Cancer with a Covalent CDK7 Inhibitor Cancer Cell 26, 909–922.

Features

Download data in different format

The data can be downloaded in different formates like BED , FASTA and also UCSC custom tracks

Send data to Galaxy

Users can directly send the regions of their interest or a specific cell-type data to Galaxy web-server for further analysis.

Send data to GREAT

Users can directly send the regions of their interest or a specific cell-type data to GREAT web-server to perform annotation and further analysis.

Send data to Cistrome

Users can directly send the regions of their interest or a specific cell-type data to Cistrome web-server to perform correlation analyses, gene expression analyses and motif discovery.

Visualize in UCSC

A specific region or a collection of super-enhancer regions can be visualized in UCSC genome browser.

Overlap Analysis

A tool, which can be used to check the overlap of user predicted enhancers/super-enhancers with the database.

Searching & Browsing

Browse database for individual tissue/cell

Data for individual tissue/cell can be browsed by clicking the Browse Database tab.
Below is an example of searched data in a table with only 10 records on the first page. The other list can be viewed either by changing the number of records and by clicking on the page numbers at the bottom right corner of the table. At the end of the data table we have buttons to export data to Galaxy, GREAT and download in FASTA and BED.

Quick Search

On the homepage the database can browsed using different searching options by selecting the right genome, type and entering the query.
  • Cell/Tissue: It takes tissue/cell name.
  • Method: Method used to identify super-enhancers. For example Med1
  • Gene: It takes gene symbol as input

Overlap Analysis

The overlap analysis tool can be used to check the overlap of predicted enhancers/super-enhancers with the super-enhancers present in dbSUPER database. This can be performed by clicking the "Overlap Analysis" tab and by uploading your regions of interests in BED format. The BED file should be in tab delimited formate without header, an example can be found here . Below is a screenshot of upload BED page.
After clicking the "Start Analysis" button, it will take a while to show the analysis based on the number of regions you provided. Bellow is an example of overlap analysis. The results shown in the above donut graph are also in available in the tabular form below, which can be downloaded as html.

References & Resources

Super-enhancers in the control of cell identity and disease

Hnisz D, Abraham BJ, Lee TI, Lau A, Saint-André V, Sigova AA., Hoke HA., Young RA. 2013. Cell 155: 934–47.

Master transcription factors and mediator establish super-enhancers at key cell identity genes

Whyte WA, Orlando DA, Hnisz D, Abraham BJ, Lin CY, Kagey MH, Rahl PB, Lee TI, Young RA. 2013. Cell 153: 307–19.

Discovery and characterization of super-enhancer-associated dependencies in diffuse large B cell lymphoma

Chapuy B, McKeown MR, Lin CY, Monti S, Roemer MG, Qi J, Rahl PB, Sun HH, Yeda KT, Doench JG, Reichert E, Kung AL, Rodig SJ, Young RA, Shipp MA, Bradner JE. 2013. Cell 24: 777-790.

Selective inhibition of tumor oncogenes by disruption of super-enhancers

Lovén J, Hoke HA, Lin CY, Lau A, Orlando D A, Vakoc CR, Bradner JE, Lee TI, Young RA. 2013. Cell 153: 320–34.

Targeting Transcriptional Addictions in Small Cell Lung Cancer with a Covalent CDK7 Inhibitor

Christensen,C.L., Kwiatkowski,N., Abraham,B.J., et al. Cancer Cell 26: 909–922.

Useful Links

  • ROSE Software
  • UCSC Genome Browser
  • VISTA Enhancer Browser
  • Galaxy Server
  • GREAT Server