Promyelocytic Leukemia Protein (PML) was first identified as a fusion product with the retinoic acid receptor alpha in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL). Although PML has previously been studied in cancer progression and various physiological processes, little is known about its functions in Embryonic Stem Cells (ESC). Here, we report that PML contributes to the maintenance of the ESC self-renewal by controlling the cell-cycle and sustaining the expression levels of crucial pluripotency factors. Transcriptomic analysis showed that the ablation of PML renders ESC prone to exit from the nave and acquire a primed-like pluripotent cell state. During differentiation PML influences cell fate decision by regulation of Tbx3. PML loss compromises the reprogramming ability of embryonic fibroblasts to induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) by inhibiting the TGF pathway at the very early stages. Collectively, these results designate PML as a member of the regulatory network for ESC pluripotency and somatic cell reprogramming.
Promyelocytic Leukemia Protein Is an Essential Regulator of Stem Cell Pluripotency and Somatic Cell Reprogramming.
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View SamplesGroucho related gene 5 (GRG5) is a multifunctional protein that has been implicated in late embryonic and postnatal mouse development. Here, we describe a previously unknown role of GRG5 in early developmental stages by analyzing its function in stem cell fate decisions. By both loss and gain of function approaches we demonstrate that ablation of GRG5 deregulates the Embryonic Stem Cell (ESC) pluripotent state whereas its overexpression leads to enhanced self-renewal and acquisition of cancer cell-like properties. A pro-oncogenic potential for GRG5 is revealed by the malignant behavior of teratomas generated from ESCs that overexpress it. Furthermore, transcriptomic analysis and cell differentiation approaches underline GRG5 as a multifaceted signaling regulator that represses mesendodermal-related genes. When ES cells exit pluripotency, GRG5 promotes neuroectodermal specification via Wnt and BMP signaling pathways suppression. Moreover, GRG5 promotes the neuronal reprogramming of fibroblasts and maintains the self-renewal of Neural Stem Cell (NSC) by sustaining the activity of Notch and Jak/Stat3 pathways. In summary, our results demonstrate that GRG5 has pleiotropic roles in stem cell biology functioning as a stemness factor and a neural fate specifier. Overall design: Gene expression profiling of control and Grg5 knockdown (KD) embryonic stem cells with RNA-seq, in dublicate, using Ion Torrent Proton.
Groucho related gene 5 (GRG5) is involved in embryonic and neural stem cell state decisions.
Cell line, Subject
View SamplesIncreased antigen cross-presentation but impaired cross-priming after activation of PPAR is mediated by up-regulation of B7H1
Increased antigen cross-presentation but impaired cross-priming after activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma is mediated by up-regulation of B7H1.
Specimen part
View SamplesPioneer transcription factors are able to recognise and bind their motif sequences in inaccessible or closed chromatin, and their ability to achieve this is required to establish new regulatory elements and transcriptional networks during development and cellular reprogramming. An essential feature of this pioneering activity is the transition from inaccessible chromatin to a nucleosome-depleted and accessible chromatin state typical of normal regulatory elements, and this is believed to facilitate further transcription factor binding events. However, the mechanisms by which many pioneer transcription factors achieve this remarkable feat remain elusive. Here we reveal that the pluripotency-associated pioneer factor OCT4 binds inaccessible chromatin to shape the chromatin accessibility, transcription factor co-binding and regulatory potential of thousands of distal regulatory elements in mouse embryonic stem cells, demonstrating that its pioneering activity is a feature of normal pluripotency, and not just reprogramming. The accessible chromatin formed at OCT4 binding sites relies on the chromatin remodelling factor BRG1, which is recruited to these sites by OCT4. The occupancy of BRG1 is then required to support OCT4/SOX2 co-binding and normal expression of the pluripotency-associated transcriptome, and this reliance on BRG1 reflects OCT4 binding dynamics during cellular reprograming and early mouse development. Together these observations reveal a distinct requirement for the chromatin remodelling factor BRG1 in shaping the pioneering activity of OCT4 and regulating the pluripotency network in embryonic stem cells. Overall design: ZHBTC4 and Brg1fl/fl mouse embryonic stem cells were used to ablate OCT4 and BRG1 expression respectively, followed by ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq or RNA-seq to examine their contribution towards chromatin accessibility, transcription factor occupancy, and gene expression.
The pioneer factor OCT4 requires the chromatin remodeller BRG1 to support gene regulatory element function in mouse embryonic stem cells.
Cell line, Treatment, Subject
View SamplesSMARCB1 (Snf5/Ini1/Baf47) is a potent tumor suppressor, the loss of which serves as the diagnostic feature in Malignant Rhabdoid Tumors (MRT) and Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumors (AT/RT), two highly aggressive forms of pediatric neoplasms. Here, we restore Smarcb1 expression in cells derived from Smarcb1-deficient tumors which developed in Smarcb1-heterozygous p53-/- mice.
Loss of IGFBP7 expression and persistent AKT activation contribute to SMARCB1/Snf5-mediated tumorigenesis.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesThis study presents a dynamic characterization of the sheep milk transcriptome aiming at achieving a better understanding of the sheep lactating mammary gland. Transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed on total RNA extracted from milk somatic cells from ewes on days 10, 50, 120 and 150 after lambing. The experiment was performed in Spanish Churra and Assaf breeds, which differ in their milk production traits. Nearly 67% of the annotated genes in the reference genome (Oar_v3.1) were expressed in ovine milk somatic cells. For the two breeds and across the four lactation stages studied, the most highly expressed genes encoded caseins and whey proteins. We detected differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across lactation points, with the largest differences being found, between day 10 and day 150. Upregulated GO terms at late lactation stages were linked mainly to developmental processes linked to extracellular matrix remodeling. A total of 256 annotated DEGs were detected in the Assaf and Churra comparison. Some genes selectively upregulated in the Churra breed grouped under the endopeptidase and channel activity GO terms. These genes could be related to the higher cheese yield of this breed. Overall, this study provides the first integrated overview on sheep milk gene expression. Overall design: A total of eight healthy sheep were selected to be included in the experiment, four Assaf and four Churra ewes. 32 Milk Somatic Cells (MSCs) samples were collected on days 10, 50, 120 and 150 after lambing. In each time point 4 biological replicates from each breed were collected unless on day 120 that only three biological replicates from each breed were sequenced.
Variant discovery in the sheep milk transcriptome using RNA sequencing.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesThe ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is known to possess important regulatory functions in the immune response. To gain a better and first comprehensive insight into the mechanisms underlying the conversion of immature to mature DC in terms of the expression of UPS related genes, we undertook a comparative gene expression profiling during DC maturation in response to four different prototypic maturation stimuli.
Maturation of human dendritic cells is accompanied by functional remodelling of the ubiquitin-proteasome system.
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View SamplesImpaired DNA replication is a hallmark of cancer and a cause of genomic instability. We report that, in addition to causing genetic change, impaired DNA replication during embryonic development can have major epigenetic consequences for a genome. In a genome-wide screen, we identified impaired DNA replication as causing increased expression from a repressed transgene in Caenorhabditis elegans. The acquired expression state behaved as an “epiallele,” being inherited for multiple generations before fully resetting. Derepression was not restricted to the transgene but was caused by a global reduction in heterochromatin-associated histone modifications due to the impaired retention of modified histones on DNA during replication in the early embryo. Impaired DNA replication during development can therefore globally derepress chromatin, creating new intergenerationally inherited epigenetic expression states. Overall design: 3 replicates of div-1 mutant worms and N2 wild type worms
Impaired DNA replication derepresses chromatin and generates a transgenerationally inherited epigenetic memory.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesMicroarray-based gene expression analysis of peripheral whole blood is a common strategy in the development of clinically relevant biomarker panels for a variety of human diseases. However, the results of such an analysis are often plagued by decreased sensitivity and reliability due to the effects of relatively high levels of globin mRNA in whole blood. Globin reduction assays have been shown to overcome such effects, but they require large amounts of total RNA and may induce distinct gene expression profiles. The Illumina whole-genome DASL (WG-DASL) assay can detect gene expression levels using partially degraded RNA samples and has the potential to detect rare transcripts present in highly heterogeneous whole blood samples without the need for globin reduction. We therefore assessed the utility of the WG-DASL assay in the analysis of peripheral whole blood gene expression profiles. We find that gene expression detection is significantly increased with the use of WG-DASL compared to the standard in vitro transcription-based direct hybridization (IVT), while globin-probe-negative WG-DASL did not exhibit significant improvements over globin-probe-positive WG-DASL. Globin reduction increases the detection sensitivity and reliability of both WG-DASL and IVT with little effect on raw intensity correlations: raw intensity correlations between total RNA and globin-reduced RNA were 0.970 for IVT and 0.981 for WG-DASL. Overall, the detection sensitivity of the WG-DASL assay is higher than the IVT-based direct hybridization assay, with or without globin reduction, and should be considered in conjunction with globin reduction methods for future blood-based gene expression studies.
Gene expression profiling of human whole blood samples with the Illumina WG-DASL assay.
Specimen part
View SamplesHeterotopic cardiac transplants were constructed in male Wistar Furth (allograft donor) and ACI (host) rats. Rats were divided into three groups consisting of no treatment, treatment with a sub-therapeutic dose of cyclosporin A, and treated with combination of a sub-therapeutic dose of cyclosporin A and allochimeric peptide. The allografts were harvested at defined periods post-transplantation and RNA was harvested to monitor gene expression changes resulting from the various treatments in T-cells and in heart cells.
Intragraft gene expression profile associated with the induction of tolerance by allochimeric MHC I in the rat heart transplantation model.
Sex, Specimen part
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