FOXO transcription factors have a highly conserved role in regulating transcription of genes involved in differentiation, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and DNA repair. Loss of FOXO3 in mice has previously been shown to result in a myeloproliferative disease. In agreement with this, we found that an independent Foxo3 null mouse strain, Foxo3Kca, exhibits an increase in neutrophils in the spleen, bone marrow and blood. This coincides with an expansion of myeloid progenitor cells including pre-granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (Pre-GMs) and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (GMPs). Surprisingly, despite neutrophilia, the severity of passive serum transfer arthritis was markedly attenuated in Foxo3Kca mice. These defects appear to be at least partially intrinsic to the myeloid lineage, as deleting Foxo3 specifically from myeloid cells using LysMCre also leads to an elevated number of neutrophils and protection from K/BxN-serum transfer-induced arthritis.

The genome is folded into domains located in compartments that are either transcriptionally inert or transcriptionally permissive. Here we used genome-wide strategies to characterize domains during B cell development. Structured interaction matrix analysis showed that occupancy by the architectural protein CTCF was associated mainly with intradomain interactions, whereas sites bound by the histone acetyltransferase p300 or the transcription factors E2A or PU.1 were associated with intra- and interdomain interactions that are developmentally regulated. We identified a spectrum of genes that switched nuclear location during early B cell development. In progenitor cells, the transcriptionally inactive locus encoding early B cell factor (Ebf1) was sequestered at the nuclear lamina, which thereby preserved their multipotency. After development into the pro-B cell stage, Ebf1 and other genes switched compartments to establish new intra- and interdomain interactions associated with a B lineage-specific transcription signature.