Pioneering activity may be a property of all transcription factors with sufficient affinity for their targets rather than a property of specific classes of transcription factors.

The chromatin remodeller BRG1 is recruited to pluripotency-associated gene regulatory elements by the pioneer transcription factor OCT4 to support further transcription factor binding and gene regulation.

Within distinct chromatin landscapes, the BRG1 chromatin remodeling enzyme patterns hormone-dependent chromatin interactions, pioneer factor recruitment, and transcriptional activity.

The budding yeast transcription factors Reb1 and Cbf1 function as pioneer factors by slowly dissociating from nucleosomes, allowing them to target and unwrap nucleosomes efficiently to regulate transcription.

A computational method has been developed for predicting the cell-type-specific binding of transcription factors to nucleosomes, and involves integration of ChIP-seq, MNase-seq, and DNase-seq data with details of nucleosome structure.

Following fertilization, the pioneering transcription factors GAGA factor (GAF) and Zelda are independently required to reprogram the zygotic genome of Drosophila and activate the first wave of gene expression.

Mechanisms for shaping the chromatin accessibility landscape operate during development to regulate how embryonic patterning information is interpreted at the level of gene regulatory networks.

The gene Odd-paired is a late-acting regulator of zygotic gene expression, functioning coordinately with Zelda to influence chromatin accessibility and affecting genes expressed along both axes of Drosophila embryos.

Maternal CLAMP functions as a novel pioneer transcription factor to open chromatin and plays a targeted yet essential role in Drosophila zygotic genome activation.

OCT4 and SOX2 display partially independent activity to regulate chromatin accessibility, and highly dynamic activity of OCT4 is required throughout the cell cycle to maintain pluripotency enhancer accessibility.