Molecular dissection of the ChAHP complex subunits Adnp and Chd4 reveals common and divergent functions in retinal development

In mouse retina, conditional loss of Adnp or Chd4 disrupts development, with both causing elevated cell death, while Adnp uniquely reduces progenitor proliferation and numbers.

• Why it matters: ChAHP chromatin remodeling is linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, but its retinal roles and how its subunits differ in controlling neural progenitor competence are unclear.
• What they did: Using Chx10-Cre retina-specific conditional knockouts, the study assessed phenotypes and compared Adnp and Chd4 cKOs with scRNA-seq and cut&run-seq to test shared transcriptional programs and genomic recruitment.
• The result: scRNA-seq showed common transcriptional signatures, while Chd4 cKOs had more severe gene-expression changes; cut&run-seq suggested both subunits are recruited to the same loci, many also bound by Ctcf.

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