RAD21 cooperates with pluripotency transcription factors in the maintenance of embryonic stem cell identity.

ABSTRACT: For self-renewal, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) require the expression of specific transcription factors accompanied by a particular chromosome organization to maintain a balance between pluripotency and the capacity for rapid differentiation. However, how transcriptional regulation is linked to chromosome organization in ESCs is not well understood. Here we show that the cohesin component RAD21 exhibits a functional role in maintaining ESC identity through association with the pluripotency transcriptional network. ChIP-seq analyses of RAD21 reveal an ESC specific cohesin binding pattern that is characterized by CTCF independent co-localization of cohesin with pluripotency related transcription factors Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, Esrrb and Klf4. Upon ESC differentiation, most of these binding sites d

SUBMITTER: Nitzsche A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3093395 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature