ATAC-seq analysis of transgenic human cancer cell line expressing subunits of meiotic cohesin complexes (RAD21L mei-Cohesin)

The goal of the study was to investigate the epigenomic properties of somatic cells in response to the induction of mei-cohesin subunits using Tet-on inducible transgenes activated by an rtTA transgene and doxycicline. The study involved applying ATAC-seq (Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high-throughput sequencing) analysis of stable transgenic human cancer cell line DLD-1, which expresed Tet-inducible combinations of mei-cohesin subunits. The ATAC-seq method enables mapping DNA accessibility in chromatin with hyperactive Tn5 transposase inserting specific adapters into genome. The DLD-1 (ATCC® CCL-221™) based cell lines were first stably infected with rtTA, followed by Tet-On-STAG3, Tet-On-SMC1beta, and Tet-On RAD21L lentiviruses, to generate two multi-transgenic cell lines. The populations of transgenic cells selected for marker drug-resistance were cloned to generate single transgenic clones used for ATAC-seq experiments.