Epigenomic landscape of the developing human rhombic lip reveals gene regulatory network and non-coding loci of developmental, evolutionary, and disease relevance.
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The cerebellar rhombic lip neural progenitor niche of the prenatal hindbrain is an anatomical structure critical for cerebellar glutamatergic neurogenesis. Humans have elaborated the rhombic lip niche to include a rhombic lip subventricular zone (RL-SVZ) not seen in mice or macaques. Although developmental disruptions of this progenitor zone can cause cerebellar growth abnormalities - from malformations to tumors - the gene regulatory networks underpinning this unique progenitor niche are unknown. Here we provide a predicted gene regulatory network for the human cerebellar rhombic lip, inferred from epigenomic maps of the developing human cerebellum. We generated DNA methylomes of neuroanatomically-dissected mid-gestation human rhombic lip ventricular zone and RL-SVZ (N=9 samples; 15-16 post conception weeks) using low-input Enzymatic MethylSeq. We also mapped histone modifications marking active promoters and enhancers in the whole mid-gestation human fetal cerebellum (N=6 samples; 14 and 18 post-conception weeks). Integrating these data, we identified 9,855 differentially-methylated regions (DMR) which converge on binding sites of over three hundred transcription factors, including master regulators of rhombic lip neurogenesis, ATOH1, NEUROD1, and NEUROD2. DMRs hypomethylated in the RL-SVZ are enriched in active enhancers and in human accelerated regions, and are depleted in active promoters. We inferred 81,844 transcription factor-enhancer-gene links, covering 41 transcription factors active in the rhombic lip, and 4,610 target genes that include drivers of cerebellar neurogenesis and pediatric hindbrain cancer. Twenty-five DMRs overlap human accelerated regions located near genes associated with intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorders, and neurological deficits. DMRs are also statistically enriched in copy number aberrations in medulloblastoma, a malignant pediatric hindbrain cancer with subtypes hypothesized to originate in the rhombic lip. Close to one-quarter of the DMRs overlap known copy number aberrations in medulloblastoma, nominating potential enhancer and promoter elements impacted by these genomic aberrations. Collectively, our data provide a rich resource to start decoding the functional impact of non-coding variation on gene regulation in the developing cerebellum and on genomic dysregulation in diseases of cerebellar growth.