The histone chaperone NAP1L3 is required for haematopoietic stem cell maintenance and differentiation.

Nucleosome assembly proteins (NAPs) are histone chaperones with an important role in chromatin structure and epigenetic regulation of gene expression. We find that high gene expression levels of mouse Nap1l3 are restricted to haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in mice. Importantly, with shRNA or CRISPR-Cas9 mediated loss of function of mouse Nap1l3 and with overexpression of the gene, the number of colony-forming cells and myeloid progenitor cells in vitro are reduced.