Formation of an active tissue-specific chromatin domain initiated by epigenetic marking at the embryonic stem cell stage.

ABSTRACT: The differentiation potential of stem cells is determined by the ability of these cells to establish and maintain developmentally regulated gene expression programs that are specific to different lineages. Although transcriptionally potentiated epigenetic states of genes have been described for haematopoietic progenitors, the developmental stage at which the formation of lineage-specific gene expression domains is initiated remains unclear. In this study, we show that an intergenic cis-acting element in the mouse lambda5-VpreB1 locus is marked by histone H3 acetylation and histone H3 lysine 4 methylation at a discrete site in embryonic stem (ES) cells. The epigenetic modifications spread from this site toward the VpreB1 and lambda5 genes at later stages of B-cell development, and a large,

SUBMITTER: Szutorisz H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC549375 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature