Chromatin analysis of adult pluripotent stem cells reveals a unique stemness maintenance strategy

Abstract

Many highly regenerative organisms maintain adult pluripotent stem cells throughout their life, but how the long-term maintenance of pluripotency is accomplished is unclear. To decipher the regulatory logic of adult pluripotent stem cells, we analyzed the chromatin organization of stem cell genes in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. We identify a special chromatin state of stem cell genes, which is distinct from that of tissue-specific genes and resembles constitutive genes. Where tissue-specific promoters have detectable transcription factor binding sites, the promoters of stem cell–specific genes instead have sequence features that broadly decrease nucleosome binding affinity. This genic organization makes pluripotency-related gene expression the default state in these cells, which is maintained by the activity of chromatin remodelers ISWI and SNF2 in the stem cells.