Dose-dependent role of the cohesin complex in normal and malignant hematopoiesis [ATAC-Seq]

Cohesin complex members have recently been identified as putative tumor suppressors in hematologic and epithelial malignancies. The cohesin complex guides chromosome segregation, however cohesin-mutant leukemias do not show genomic instability. We hypothesized reduced cohesin function alters chromatin structure and disrupts cis-regulatory architecture of hematopoietic progenitors. We investigated the consequences of Smc3 deletion in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Bi-allelic Smc3 loss induced bone marrow aplasia with premature sister chromatid separation, and revealed an absolute requirement for cohesin in hematopoietic stem cell function. In contrast, Smc3 haploinsufficiency increased self-renewal in vitro and in vivo including competitive transplantation. Smc3 haploinsufficiency reduced coordinated transcriptional output, including reduced expression of transcription factors and other genes associated with lineage commitment. Smc3 haploinsufficiency cooperated with Flt3-ITD to induce acute leukemia in vivo, with potentiated Stat5 signaling and altered nucleolar topology. These data establish a dose-dependency for cohesin in regulating chromatin structure and hematopoietic stem cell function.