Function and regulation of transcription factors during mitosis-to-G1 transition.

During cell division, drastic cellular changes characteristic of mitosis result in the inactivation of the transcriptional machinery, and global downregulation of transcription. Sequence-specific transcription factors (TFs) have thus been considered mere bystanders, devoid of any regulatory function during mitosis. This view changed significantly in recent years, upon the conclusion that many TFs associate with condensed chromosomes during cell division, even occupying a fraction of their genomic target sites in mitotic chromatin.

Hierarchical reactivation of transcription during mitosis-to-G1 transition by Brn2 and Ascl1 in neural stem cells.

During mitosis, chromatin condensation is accompanied by a global arrest of transcription. Recent studies suggest transcriptional reactivation upon mitotic exit occurs in temporally coordinated waves, but the underlying regulatory principles have yet to be elucidated. In particular, the contribution of sequence-specific transcription factors (TFs) remains poorly understood.

Chromatin Immunoprecipitation from Mouse Embryonic Tissue or Adherent Cells in Culture, Followed by Next-Generation Sequencing.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is considered the method of choice for characterizing interactions between a protein of interest and specific genomic regions. It is of paramount importance in gene-regulation studies, as it can be used to map the target regions of sequence-specific transcription factors and cofactors, or histone marks that characterize distinct chromatin states. ChIP can be used directly to probe interactions with candidate regions (ChIP-PCR), or coupled to Next-Generation Sequencing (ChIP-seq) to generate genome-wide information.