Genetic Risk Meets the Intestinal Barrier.

Top: At increasing cellular resolution, the Alegbe et al. report that expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) are enriched in enhancer regions rather than promoters. They speculate that enhancer eQTLs only come into effect during certain cellular contexts, making them more tolerable. Bottom: Alegbe et al. identify an enrichment of eQTLs affecting Wnt pathway regulators in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) epithelium, suggesting a reduced capacity for regeneration. Additionally, the authors show an enrichment of interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs) in IBD epithelium that become active only during inflammation.