title: Putting chromatin in its place: the pioneer factor NeuroD1 modulates chromatin state to drive cell fate decisions.
abstract: Cell fate decisions require the deployment of distinct transcriptional programmes - how this is controlled and orchestrated is a key question from basic developmental biology to regenerative medicine. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Pataskar and Jung et al (Pataskar et al, 2015) demonstrate how the transcription factor NeuroD1 acts genome-wide to elicit a specific neurogenic programme, including differentiation and migration. Much of that activity is due to NeuroD1 acting as a pioneer factor. NeuroD1 is able to bind its targets within repressive chromatin and can induce a more open chromatin state amenable to cell type‐specific regulation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Systems Biology of Neural Tissue Differentiation, Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Glahs
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Systems Biology of Neural Tissue Differentiation, Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Zinzen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D002843:Chromatin; D014157:Transcription Factors