The pluripotency factor Nanog regulates pericentromeric heterochromatin organization in mouse embryonic stem cells.

ABSTRACT: An open and decondensed chromatin organization is a defining property of pluripotency. Several epigenetic regulators have been implicated in maintaining an open chromatin organization, but how these processes are connected to the pluripotency network is unknown. Here, we identified a new role for the transcription factor NANOG as a key regulator connecting the pluripotency network with constitutive heterochromatin organization in mouse embryonic stem cells. Deletion of Nanog leads to chromatin compaction and the remodeling of heterochromatin domains. Forced expression of NANOG in epiblast stem cells is sufficient to decompact chromatin. NANOG associates with satellite repeats within heterochromatin domains, contributing to an architecture characterized by highly dispersed chromatin fibers,

SUBMITTER: Novo CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4863740 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature