Work

Oct4 dependence of chromatin structure within the extended Nanog locus in ES cells

Year: 2008

Type: preprint

Abstract: Embryonic stem (ES) cells offer insight into early developmental fate decisions, and their controlled differentiation may yield vast regenerative potential. The molecular determinants supporting ES cell self-renewal are incompletely understood. The homeodomain proteins Nanog and Oct4 are essential for mouse ES cell self-renewal. Using a high-throughput approach, we discovered DNaseI hypersensitive sites and potential regulatory elements along a 160-kb region of the genome that includes GDF3, Dppa3, and Nanog. We analyzed gene expression, chromatin occupancy, and higher-order chromatin structure throughout this gene locus and found that expression of the reprogramming factor Oct4 is required to maintain its integrity.

Source: Genes & Development

DOI: 10.1101/gad.1606308

Authors: Dana N. Levasseur, Jianlong Wang, Michael O. Dorschner, John A. Stamatoyannopoulos, Stuart H. Orkin

Institutions: Harvard University, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, University of Washington, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Language: English

Topic: Pluripotent Stem Cells Research

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Awards: Computational discovery of cis-regulatory sequences, Identification of Functional DNA Elements by HSqPCR