Department of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, USA.
Genes Dev. 2020 Aug 1;34(15-16):1003-1004. doi: 10.1101/gad.340570.120.
Pioneer factors are transcriptional regulators with the capacity to bind inactive regions of chromatin and induce changes in accessibility that underpin cell fate decisions. The FOXA family of transcription factors is well understood to have pioneer capacity. Indeed, researchers have uncovered numerous examples of FOXA-dependent epigenomic modulation in developmental and disease processes. Despite the presence of FOXA being essential for correct epigenetic patterning, the need for continued FOXA presence postchromatin modulation has been debated. In a recent study in this issue of , Reizel and colleagues (pp. 1039-1050) show that the tissue-specific ablation of FOXA1/2/3 in the adult mouse liver results in the collapse of the epigenetic profile that maintains the hepatic gene expression profile. Thus, FOXA functions as a key, opening regions of chromatin during development, and as a doorstep, maintaining the established euchromatic structure in adult tissue.
先驱因子是具有结合染色质非活性区域的能力的转录调节剂，并诱导支持细胞命运决定的可及性变化。FOXA 转录因子家族被认为具有先驱能力。事实上，研究人员已经在发育和疾病过程中发现了许多 FOXA 依赖性表观基因组调节的例子。尽管 FOXA 的存在对于正确的表观遗传模式至关重要，但在染色质调节后是否需要持续存在 FOXA 一直存在争议。在本期的 杂志上，Reizel 及其同事（第 1039-1050 页）的一项研究表明，成年小鼠肝脏中 FOXA1/2/3 的组织特异性缺失导致维持肝基因表达谱的表观遗传特征崩溃。因此，FOXA 在发育过程中作为关键的“开启”染色质区域的因子，并作为“踏脚石”，在成年组织中维持已建立的常染色质结构。
