Project description:In the developing heart, heterotypic transcription factors (TFs) interactions, such as between the T-box TF TBX5 and the homeodomain TF NKX2-5 have been proposed as a mechanism for human congenital heart disease. In order to study the role of each TF during heart formation, embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived embryos were generated from KO ES cells for Tbx5, Nkx2-5 or both TFs. We used microarrays to identify changes in the gene expression due to the lack of Tbx5, Nkx2-5 or both TFs during early heart formation. WT, Nkx2-5KO (NKO), Tbx5KO (TKO) and Tbx5KO;Nkx2-5KO (DKO) E8.75 mouse hearts were microdissected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:Regulation of replication and expression of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is essential for cellular energy conversion via oxidative phosphorylation. The mitochondrial transcription elongation factor (TEFM) has been proposed to regulate the switch between transcription termination for replication primer formation and processive, near-genome length transcription for mtDNA gene expression. Here, we report that Tefm is essential for mouse embryogenesis and that levels of promoter-distal mitochondrial transcripts are drastically reduced in conditional Tefm-knockout hearts. In contrast, the promoter-proximal transcripts are much increased in Tefm knockouts, but they mostly terminate before the region where the switch from transcription to replication occurs, and consequently de novo mtDNA replication is profoundly reduced. Unexpectedly, deep sequencing of RNA from Tefm knockouts revealed accumulation of unprocessed transcripts in addition to defective transcription elongation. Furthermore, a proximity labelling (BioID) assay showed that TEFM interacts with multiple RNA processing factors. Our data demonstrate that TEFM acts as a general transcription elongation factor, necessary for both gene transcription and replication primer formation, and loss of TEFM affects RNA processing in mammalian mitochondria.
Project description:MHCaCre induced knockout of Fog2flox. Aberrant transcriptional regulation contributes to the pathogenesis of both congenital and adult forms of heart disease. While the transcriptional regulator FOG2 is known to be essential for heart morphogenesis and coronary development, its tissue specific function has not been previously investigated. Additionally, little is known about the role of FOG2 in the adult heart. Here we use spatiotemporally regulated inactivation of Fog2 to delineate its function both in embryo and adult heart. Early cardiomyocyte-restricted loss of Fog2 recapitulated the cardiac and coronary defects of the Fog2 germline knockouts. Later cardiomyocyte-restricted loss of Fog2 (Fog2MC) did not result in defects in cardiac structure or coronary vessel formation. However, Fog2MC adult mice had severely depressed ventricular function and died at 8-14 weeks. Fog2MC adult hearts displayed a paucity of coronary vessels. This was associated with myocardial hypoxia, increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and cardiac fibrosis. Induced inactivation of Fog2 in adult heart resulted in similar phenotype, as did ablation of FOG2 interaction with the transcription factor GATA4. Loss of FOG2 or FOG2-GATA4 interaction altered expression of a panel of angiogenesis-related genes. Collectively, our data indicated that FOG2 regulates adult heart function and coronary angiogenesis. Experiment Overall Design: Fog2flox/delta; MHCaCre (3) compared to Fog2flox/delta; no Cre (3). One heart per sample.
Project description:In the developing heart, heterotypic transcription factors (TFs) interactions, such as between the T-box TF TBX5 and the homeodomain TF NKX2-5 have been proposed as a mechanism for human congenital heart disease. In order to study the role of each TF during heart formation, embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived embryos were generated from KO ES cells for Tbx5, Nkx2-5 or both TFs. We used microarrays to identify changes in the gene expression due to the lack of Tbx5, Nkx2-5 or both TFs during early heart formation.
Project description:MHCaCre induced knockout of Fog2flox. Aberrant transcriptional regulation contributes to the pathogenesis of both congenital and adult forms of heart disease. While the transcriptional regulator FOG2 is known to be essential for heart morphogenesis and coronary development, its tissue specific function has not been previously investigated. Additionally, little is known about the role of FOG2 in the adult heart. Here we use spatiotemporally regulated inactivation of Fog2 to delineate its function both in embryo and adult heart. Early cardiomyocyte-restricted loss of Fog2 recapitulated the cardiac and coronary defects of the Fog2 germline knockouts. Later cardiomyocyte-restricted loss of Fog2 (Fog2MC) did not result in defects in cardiac structure or coronary vessel formation. However, Fog2MC adult mice had severely depressed ventricular function and died at 8-14 weeks. Fog2MC adult hearts displayed a paucity of coronary vessels. This was associated with myocardial hypoxia, increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and cardiac fibrosis. Induced inactivation of Fog2 in adult heart resulted in similar phenotype, as did ablation of FOG2 interaction with the transcription factor GATA4. Loss of FOG2 or FOG2-GATA4 interaction altered expression of a panel of angiogenesis-related genes. Collectively, our data indicated that FOG2 regulates adult heart function and coronary angiogenesis.
Project description:Cardiac development arises from two sources of mesoderm progenitors, the first (FHF) and the second heart field (SHF). Mesp1 has been proposed to mark the most primitive multipotent cardiac progenitors common for both heart fields. Here, using clonal analysis of the earliest prospective cardiovascular progenitors in a temporally controlled manner during the early gastrulation, we found that Mesp1 progenitors consist of two temporally distinct pools of progenitors restricted to either the FHF or the SHF. FHF progenitors were unipotent, while SHF progenitors, were either uni- or bipotent. Microarray and single cell RT-PCR analysis of Mesp1 progenitors revealed the existence of molecularly distinct populations of Mesp1 progenitors, consistent with their lineage and regional contribution. Altogether, these results provide evidence that heart development arises from distinct populations of unipotent and bipotent cardiac progenitors that independently express Mesp1 at different time points during their specification, revealing that the regional segregation and lineage restriction of cardiac progenitors occurs very early during gastrulation. We used microarrays to characterize the molecular mechanisms that control Mesp1 progenitor specification and lineage segregation during the early stage of cardiac mesoderm formation, 50 Mesp1 H2B-GFP+ or Mesp1 H2B-GFP- cells at E6.5 or E7.5 from mouse embryos were sorted for RNA extraction, amplification and hybridization on Affimetrix microarrays. Microaarrays were performed on Mouse Genome 430 PM strip Affymetrix array. The overall design was repeated in two different biological samples.
Project description:We have generated scRNA-seq data from embryonic day (E)10.5 and E12.5 atrioventricular canals (primitive heart valves) to assess cellular diversity during the distinct epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) from endocardium and epicardium that guide the formation of valve mesenchyme. Alongside, wildtype atrioventricular canals, we generated scRNA-seq data from Sox9 conditional knockouts (Sox9fl/fl;Tie2-cre) to explore the role of SOX9 in EMT. Atrioventricular canals were microdissected from cardiac chambers and outflow tract, enriching for heart valve progenitor lineages.
Project description:Transcription factor AP-2 gamma is a core regulator of tight junction biogenesis and cavity formation during mouse early embryogenesis