CAF-1 is required for the spatial organization and epigenetic marking of heterochromatin domains in pluripotent embryonic cells, creating a cellular memory of somatic cell identity during cellular differentiation.
Cells resembling 2-cell-stage mouse embryos (totipotent cells) can be induced in vitro through downregulation of the chromatin-assembly activity of CAF-1 in embryonic stem cells.
CAF-1 forms a deadenylase complex with CCR4-Not, which should not be confused with the unrelated CCR4. The CAF-1/CCR4-Not complex cooperates with the release factor eRF3 and PABPC1 to shorten the poly(A) tail of mRNA during translation.