Unique trophoblast chromatin environment mediated by the PcG protein SFMBT2

Priscilla Tang; Kamelia Miri; Susannah Varmuza

doi:10.1242/bio.043638

Unique trophoblast chromatin environment mediated by the PcG protein SFMBT2

Biol Open. 2019 Aug 23;8(8):bio043638. doi: 10.1242/bio.043638.

Authors

Priscilla Tang¹, Kamelia Miri¹, Susannah Varmuza²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord St., Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G5, Canada.
² Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord St., Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G5, Canada s.varmuza@utoronto.ca.

Abstract

Stem/progenitor cells are maintained by a chromatin environment, mediated in part by Polycomb group (PcG) proteins, which depress differentiation. The trophoblast-specific PcG protein SFMBT2 is known to be required for maintenance of trophoblast progenitors. Rather than binding to trophoblast-specific genes repressed in TSC, SFMBT2 is concentrated at chromocentres and regions rich in repetitive elements, specifically LINE sequences and major satellites, suggesting that it is involved in higher-order organization of the trophoblast genome. It is also found enriched at a subset of ncRNAs. Comparison of ChIP-seq datasets for other chromatin proteins reveals several stereotypical distribution patterns, suggesting that SFMBT2 interacts with several different types of chromatin complexes specific to the trophoblast lineage.

Keywords: ChIP-seq; Placenta; Polycomb; SFMBT2; Trophoblast.