Deciphering the role of the INI-1 protein within the SWI/SNF remodeling complex

Abstract

INI-1 is a core subunit of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, which stands for SWItch/Sucrose Non-Fermentable, and is a known tumor suppressor gene. INI-1 is a 47kDa long protein with 385 amino acids present in its sequence. It's expressed ubiquitously in all cell types including developmental cells (Fagerberg). It is primarily found in the nucleus, but can be found in small concentrations in the cytoplasm. The mechanism behind the SWI/SNF complex work is still being discovered and not much is known about the role of INI-1 in the complex. 20% of cancer cells contain a mutation in the SWI/SNF complex and a specific type of cancer, Atypical Teratoid Rhadboid Tumors are classified by their lack of INI-1 in the cell (Kim). This report documents how CRISPR-Cas9 was utilized to create INI-1 knockout cells along with developing mononucleosomes to measure how INI-1 affects nucleosome movement. In future studies, the INI-1 knockout cells will be used to compare the cell proliferation and protein expression between the presence and absence of INI-1 in cancer cells. The mononucleosomes will be used to identify the role that INI-1 plays on nucleosomes movement.