Systematic mapping of functional enhancer–promoter connections with CRISPR interference

CRISPR screens illuminate enhancer function The noncoding regions around a gene that control the transcription of the protein-coding region are difficult to identify. Leveraging a CRISPR interference system (CRISPRi), Fulco et al. identified enhancer-promoter connections to map specific noncoding regions affecting gene regulation for the GATA1 and MYC loci (see the Perspective by Einstein and Yeo). Going forward, such CRISPRi-mapping can be used to evaluate promoter-enhancer screens functionally in an unbiased way. Science , this issue p. 769 ; see also p. 705