Mitotic bookmarking by SWI/SNF subunits

For cells to initiate and sustain a differentiated state, it is necessary that a “memory” of this state is transmitted through mitosis to the daughter cells. Mammalian SWItch/ Sucrose Non- Fermentable (SWI/SNF) complexes, also called Brg1/ Brg- associated factors (BAF), control cell identity by modulating chromatin architecture to regulate gene expression, but whether they participate in cell fate memory is unclear. Here, we provide evidence that subunits of SWI/SNF act as mitotic bookmarks to safeguard cell identity during cell division. The SWI/SNF core subunits SMARCE1 and SMARCB1 are displaced from enhancers but bound on promoters during mitosis and we show that this binding is required for appropriate reactivation of bound genes after mitotic exit. Ablation of SMARCE1 during a single mitosis in mouse embryonic stem cells is sufficient to disrupt gene expression, impair the occupancy of several established bookmarks at a subset of their targets, and cause aberrant neural differentiation. Thus, SWI/SNF subunit SMARCE1 plays a mitotic bookmarking role and is essential for heritable epigenetic fidelity during transcriptional reprogramming. GSE189563 was designed to study the mitotic bookmarking role of SWI/SNF subunit SMARCE1 in mouse ES cells. GSE189563 contains ChIP-seq, Cut&Run, bulk RNA-seq, nascent RNA-seq, and ATAC-seq data to uncover the new function of SWI/SNF in mitosis.