ATACseq analysis of granulocyte-monocyte progenitor cells (GMPs) with GFI1 wildtype and low level of GFI1 expression

GFI1 is a transcriptional repressor protein that represses the transcription by mediating chromatin modifications such as histone demethylation, methylation and deacetylation of target genes. The genes with significant open chromatin configuration in the promoter and enhancer regions of GFI1-KI and GFI1-KD mice are identified in this study. This aids in the identification of unique additional genes that might be GFI1 protein's potential targets. We showed a significant open chromatin configuration of Foxo1 promoter and enhancer regions with reduced GFI1 expression. This gives additional support for hypothesising FOXO1 as a target gene of GFI1, along with the data from CHIPseq and RNAseq analysis. Overall design: Two mouse models were employed in this study: GFI1-KI, in which murine Gfi1 is replaced by human GFI1, and GFI1-KD, in which mice express 10-20% human GFI1 rather than murine Gfi1. FACS sorting was used to isolate granulocyte monocyte progenitor cells (GMPs) of GFI1-KI and GFI1-KD mice, which were then processed for ATACseq analysis immediately after sorting.