BMP4 Resets Primed to Naive Pluripotency by Reprogramming Chromatin Accessibility [ChIP-Seq]

BMP4 regulates a plethora of developmental processes including dorsal-ventral axis and neural patterning. Here we report that BMP4 reconfigures nuclear archi-tecture during primed to naive transition (PNT). We first established a robust BMP4 driven PNT and shown by ATAC- and RNA-seq that it orchestrates the chromatin accessibility dynamics during PNT. Among the loci opened early by BMP4, we identified Zbtb7a/b as new targets that contribute to drive PNT. Mechanically, BMP first activates Zbtb7a/b in both chromatin and gene expression level, which in turn facilitate the opening of naïve pluripotent chromatin loci and allow the activation of naïve pluripotent genes. Surprisingly, Zbtb7a not only binds to chromatin loci near the genes to be activated, but also strategically occupies those to be silenced, thus resolving the conflicting role of BMP4 in both activating and suppressing gene ex-pression during PNT at the chromatin level. Our results reveal a previously un-known function of BMP4 in regulating nuclear architecture and link its targets Zbtb7a/b to chromatin remodeling and pluripotent fate control. Overall design: We analyzed the chromatin remodeling during BMP4 induced PNT