Here, we review the role of sucrose nonfermenting (SNF2) family enzymes in blood cell development. The SNF2 family\ncomprises helicase-like ATPases, originally discovered in yeast, that can remodel chromatin by changing chromatin structure\nand composition. The human genome encodes 30 different SNF2 enzymes. SNF2 family enzymes are often part of multisubunit\nchromatin remodeling complexes (CRCs),which consist of noncatalytic/auxiliary subunit along with theATPase subunit.However,\nblood cells express a limited set of SNF2 ATPases that are necessary to maintain the pool of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and\ndrive normal blood cell development and differentiation. The composition of CRCs can be altered by the association of specific\nauxiliary subunits. Several auxiliary CRC subunits have specific functions in hematopoiesis. Aberrant expressions of SNF2 ATPases\nand/or auxiliary CRC subunit(s) are often observed in hematological malignancies. Using large-scale data from the International\nCancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) we observed frequentmutations in genes encoding SNF2 helicase-like enzymes and auxiliary\nCRC subunits in leukemia. Hence, orderly function of SNF2 family enzymes is crucial for the execution of normal blood cell\ndevelopmental program, and defects in chromatin remodeling caused by mutations or aberrant expression of these proteins may\ncontribute to leukemogenesis.
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