TALEN gene knockouts reveal no requirement for the shelterin protein Rap1 in telomere protection and length regulation. Homo sapiens

Gene expression of human knockouts of telomere-protein Rap1 were compared to their wildtype counterparts in mutliple cell lines (available from the ATCC repository). We discovered that Rap1, desite being mostly associated with the telomere, performed a conserved role in transcriptional regulation, as evidenced by a number of genes that were differentially regulated upon deletion of Rap1. Overall design: Total RNA was obtained from multiple knockout and wildtype clones generated in three different human parental cell lines obtained from ATCC. Datasets of multiple wild type and knockout clones were compared within cell lines, and not across cell lines, as differences in origin of cell lines led to extremely different transcriptional profiles.