Unique Trophoblast Chromatin Environment Mediated by the PcG Protein SFMBT2 [ChIP-seq]

Sfmbt2 is a paternally imprinted gene critical for the establishment and maintenance of trophoblast stem cells in mice (Miri K et al., 2013). Inheritance of a gene trap null allele (Sfmbt2gt/gt) results in embryonic lethality by e12.5 due to reduced numbers in all trophoblast cell types. SFMBT2 is a mammalian Polycomb group protein (PcG) and is assumed to act as a master transcriptional regulator. ChIP-seq was performed against endogenous and FLAG-SFMBT2 in trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) to complement the RNA-seq dataset acquired from extraembryonic tissues of wildtype and Sfmbt2gt/gt mice. We aim to determine the binding profile of SFMBT2 in TSCs and how it contributes to the observed transcriptomic profile.