Genome-wide maps of Nup98 binding in human embryonic stem cells, neural progenitors, neuron cells and lung fibroblasts

Recent evidence suggests that nucleoporins, well known components that control nucleo-cytoplasmic trafficking, have wide-ranging functions in developmental gene regulation that potentially extend beyond their role in nuclear transport. Whether the unexpected role of nuclear pore proteins in transcription regulation, which initially has been described in fungi and flies, also applies to human cells is unknown. Here we show at a genome-wide level that the nuclear pore protein NUP98 associates with developmentally regulated genes active during human embryonic stem cell differentiation. Examination of Nup98 binding using multiple Nup98 antibodies in four cell types, three of which are related by direct lineage.