Cohesin removal reprograms mitotic gene expression upon mitotic entry [ChIP-seq]

During mitosis, the genome is restructured to facilitate chromosome segregation, accompanied by dramatic changes in gene expression. However, the mechanisms that underlie mitotic transcriptional regulation are unclear. In contrast to transcribed genes, centromere regions retain transcriptionally active RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) in mitosis. Here, we demonstrate that chromosome-localized cohesin is necessary and sufficient to retain active RNAPII on mitotic centromeres. Failure to remove cohesin from mitotic chromosome arms dramatically alters mitotic gene expression, and results in a failure to release elongating RNAPII and nascent transcripts from mitotic chromosomes. We propose that prophase cohesin removal is the key step in reprogramming gene expression as cells transition from G2 to mitosis, and is temporally coupled with chromosome condensation to coordinate chromosome segregation with changes in gene expression. Overall design: Control or WAPL-AID cells were arrested in G2 or mitosis. Cells were fixed and chromatin was fragmented. Input chromatin or immunoprecipitations from elongating RNAPII (pS2) were sequenced.