Nuclease footprints in sperm project past and future chromatin regulatory events

Nuclear remodeling to an extreme condensed state is a hallmark of spermatogenesis. This is achieved by varied degrees of replacement of histones with protamines. Regions retaining nucleosomes may be of functional significance. To determine potential roles for somatic-like chromatin in the paternal gamete, sperm from wild type and transgenic mice harboring a single copy insert of the human protamine cluster were subjected to Micrococcal Nuclease (MNase)-seq. Nuclease footprints linked robust endogenous protamine transcription and transgene suppression to its chromatin environment. Murine footprints were enriched within regulatory regions and sequences expressed in the early embryo. These were highlighted by Ctcf footprints that were enriched within chromatin domain boundaries and sites bound in testes and ESCs. In contrast, Ctcf footprints were absent in human and bull sperm. The continuity of Ctcf binding through the murine germline may permit rapid reconstitution of chromatin organization following fertilization. This likely reflects its preparation for early zygotic genome activation and comparatively accelerated preimplantation embryonic development program observed in mouse as compared to human.

Dataset features

Information

Specifications

Application:	RNA-seq analysis
Number of samples:	11
Release date:	May 4 2016
Last update date:	Oct 24 2018
Access:	Public
Genes:	CTCF, PC
Taxon:	Homo sapiens, Mus musculus
Dataset link	Nuclease footprints in sperm project past and future chromatin regulatory events

Experimental Protocol

Mononucleosomal sperm DNAs from wild type and transgenic mice were released with micrococcal nuclease or DNA fragmentation factor (DFF) and subjected to high-throughput sequencing. Testis RNAs from transgenic mice were subjected to high-throughput sequencing.

Repositories

GEO

GSE78075

ENA

SRP070530

BioProject

PRJNA312533

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Contact

Graham Johnson