Open Chromatin, Epigenetic Plasticity, and Nuclear Organization in Pluripotency

Sharon Schlesinger; Eran Meshorer

doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2019.01.003

Open Chromatin, Epigenetic Plasticity, and Nuclear Organization in Pluripotency

Dev Cell. 2019 Jan 28;48(2):135-150. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2019.01.003.

Authors

Sharon Schlesinger¹, Eran Meshorer²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
² Department of Genetics and Edmond and Lily Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190400, Israel. Electronic address: eran.meshorer@mail.huji.ac.il.

PMID: 30695696
DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2019.01.003

Abstract

Pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are considered to have open and accessible chromatin relative to differentiated cells. However, as many studies supporting these conclusions relied on ESCs grown in serum, it has been suggested that some of these features are the result of culture conditions, particularly as more recent work using GSK3/MEK inhibitors ("2i") to mimic "ground-state" conditions of the pre-implantation blastocyst observed some altered epigenetic features. Here, we systematically review chromatin and epigenetic features in 2i- and serum-grown conditions to come to a clearer picture of what are genuine characteristics of pluripotency and what open chromatin features predict pluripotency.

Keywords: 2i; chromatin; chromatin plasticity; differentiation; embryonic stem cells; epigenetics; ground state; naive; nuclear plasticity; pluripotency; serum.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Differentiation / physiology*
Chromatin / metabolism*
Embryonic Stem Cells / cytology*
Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 / metabolism
Humans
Mice
Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells / cytology
Pluripotent Stem Cells / cytology*

Substances

Chromatin
Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3