Figure 5.

Transcriptional “hubs” of pluripotency factor accumulation. In pluripotent cells, master transcription factors are highly expressed from loci that are regulated by regions of densely packed enhancers termed “super-enhancers” (SEs). The combinatorial binding of pluripotency factors themselves at pluripotency gene loci stabilizes their high levels of expression. Large quantities of pluripotency factors in turn can accumulate at their target genes throughout the genome. As each pluripotency factor can itself form complexes with other coactivators, multiple loci may be brought together spatially through the binding of enhancers/promoters of different genes. (ESC) embryonic stem cell.