Genome-wide identification of Ikaros binding sites in pre-B cells

Ikaros DNA binding proteins are important regulators of haematopoiesis and genetic deletion of Ikaros results in severe developmental disturbances, including delayed thymocyte differentiation and an early and complete block in B cell development. Although Ikaros ChIP-seq data are available for mouse thymocytes and human haematopoietic progenitors, it has not been achieved in B cell progenitors. The goal of this study was to identify Ikaros binding sites in pre-B cells to define Ikaros target genes which could explain the essential role of Ikaros proteins in B cell differentiation.

Ikaros DNA结合蛋白（Ikaros DNA binding proteins）是造血作用的重要调控因子；对Ikaros进行基因缺失会引发严重的发育紊乱，具体包括胸腺细胞分化延迟与B细胞发育的早期完全阻断。尽管目前已有小鼠胸腺细胞和人类造血祖细胞的Ikaros染色质免疫共沉淀测序（ChIP-seq）数据，但此类数据尚未在B细胞祖细胞中获取。本研究旨在从前B细胞中鉴定Ikaros结合位点，以明确Ikaros靶基因，进而阐释Ikaros蛋白在B细胞分化中的核心作用。