Project description:Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are electrical pacemakers and mediators of neuromuscular neurotransmission in the gastrointestinal tract. Studies in organotypic cultures of intact gastric muscular wall tissues identified Kit(low)Cd44(+)Cd34(+)Insr(+)Igf1r(+) cells as local ICC progenitors (Lorincz et al., Gastroenterology 2008;134:1083-1093). Subsequently, conditionally immortalized Kit(low)Cd34(+) cells were isolated by immunomagnetic and fluorescent cell sorting and serial cloning from the gastric muscular wall of homozygous, 14-day-old H-2Kb-tsA58 mice and shown to share other phenotypic characteristics with in-situ ICC precursors (2xSCS70 cells; Bardsley et al., Gastroenterology 2010;139:942-952). 2xSCS70 cells were also found to express the ICC marker Ano1, to be able to extensively self-renew in the absence of the SV40 tsA58-TAg when cultured in NeuroCult® Neural Stem Cell Proliferation Medium (NSCPM; STEMCELL Technologies) and to differentiate into Kit(+) ICC both in vitro and in vivo. Wild-type cells with Kit(low)Ano1(+)Cd44(+)Cd34(+)Insr(+)Igf1r(+) phenotype (2xSCS2F10 cells) were prospectively isolated from primary cultures of dissociated gastric muscular wall tissues from 7-day-old C57BL/6J mice by serial cloning following 150-day expansion in NSCPM containing 5% cell-free chick embryo extract (CEE; Accurate Chemical). Long-term culturing of both cell lines was associated with further decline in Kit expression while expression of Ano1 and other markers of ICC precursors was maintained. Following spontaneous transformation, both 2xSCS70 and 2xSCS2F10 cells grafted into nude mice gave rise to tumors containing Kit(+)cells and otherwise resembling gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), which originate from the ICC lineage (Bardsley et al., Gastroenterology 2010;139:942-952). This study utilized RNA-sequencing to complement the companion microarray study in non-transformed 2xSCS70 and 2xSCS2F10 cells. Libraries were made from total RNA isolated from ICC progenitor cell lines using the Illumina TruSeq mRNA Sample Preparation Kit v2 and sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform.
Project description:Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are electrical pacemakers and mediators of neuromuscular neurotransmission in the gastrointestinal tract. Studies in organotypic cultures of intact gastric muscular wall tissues identified Kit(low)Cd44(+)Cd34(+)Insr(+)Igf1r(+) cells as local ICC progenitors (Lorincz et al., Gastroenterology 2008;134:1083-1093). Subsequently, conditionally immortalized Kit(low)Cd34(+) cells were isolated by immunomagnetic and fluorescent cell sorting and serial cloning from the gastric muscular wall of homozygous, 14-day-old H-2Kb-tsA58 mice and shown to share other phenotypic characteristics with in-situ ICC precursors (2xSCS70 cells; Bardsley et al., Gastroenterology 2010;139:942-952). 2xSCS70 cells were also found to express the ICC marker Ano1, be able to extensively self-renew in the absence of the SV40 tsA58-TAg when cultured in NeuroCult® Neural Stem Cell Proliferation Medium (NSCPM; STEMCELL Technologies) and differentiate into Kit(+) ICC both in vitro and in vivo. Wild-type cells with Kit(low)Ano1(+)Cd44(+)Cd34(+)Insr(+)Igf1r(+) phenotype (2xSCS2F10 cells) were prospectively isolated from primary cultures of dissociated gastric muscular wall tissues from 7-day-old C57BL/6J mice by serial cloning following 150-day expansion in NSCPM containing 5% cell-free chick embryo extract (CEE; Accurate Chemical). Long-term culturing of both cell lines was associated with further decline in Kit expression while expression of Ano1 and other markers of ICC precursors was maintained. Following spontaneous transformation, both 2xSCS70 and 2xSCS2F10 cells grafted into nude mice gave rise to tumors containing Kit(+)cells and otherwise resembling gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), which originate from the ICC lineage (Bardsley et al., Gastroenterology 2010;139:942-952). This study utilized oligonucleotide microarray analysis to charaterize the transcriptome of non-transformed 2xSCS70 and 2xSCS2F10 cells relative to their source tissues. Total RNA from ICC progenitor cell lines and their source tissue (gastric tunica muscularis from C57BL/6J mice (source of 2xSCS2F10 cells) and H-2Kb-tsA58 mice (source of 2xSCS70 cells) was isolated. Oligonucleotide micorarray studies were performed using 2-3 Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430.2 GeneChips per sample.
Project description:Large-scale cancer genomics projects are profiling hundreds of tumors at multiple molecular layers, including copy number, mRNA and miRNA expression, but the mechanistic relationships between these layers are often excluded from computational models. We developed a supervised learning framework for integrating molecular profiles with regulatory sequence information to reveal regulatory programs in cancer, including miRNA-mediated regulation. We applied our approach to 320 glioblastoma profiles and identified key miRNAs and transcription factors as common or subtype-specific drivers of expression changes. We confirmed that predicted gene expression signatures for proneural subtype regulators were consistent with in vivo expression changes in a PDGF-driven mouse model. We tested two predicted proneural drivers, miR-124 and miR-132, both underexpressed in proneural tumors, by overexpression in neurospheres and observed a partial reversal of corresponding tumor expression changes. Computationally dissecting the role of miRNAs in cancer may ultimately lead to small RNA therapeutics tailored to subtype or individual. miRNA mimetics were transfected to PDGFRA amplified neurosphere cell lines. Gene expression was measured 24 hours after transfection
Project description:To investigate the effects of ZIKV infection or ZIKV-NS4B-transduction on the global proteome scale at early stages of hNPC differentiation into neurons, hNPC cells were infected with ZIKV (Asian strain: H/PF/2013; MOI=0.01) or transduced with ZIKV-NS4B or HCV-NS4B and one day later cells were either left under proliferative conditions or neuronal differentiation was induced with ROCK inhibitors treatment and growth factors withdrawals. Five days later samples were harvested and processed for quantitative label-free proteomics.
Project description:In mammals, dosage compensation for the sex chromosomes is achieved by transcriptional silencing of one of the two X chromosomes in females. The inactive X adopts a particular epigenetic state, characterised by specific histones, histone marks, DNA methylation and 3D chromatin structure. As allelic resolution with short-read sequencing is limited, we do not yet have chromosome-wide phased methylomes of the active and inactive X. In this study, we obtained such complete X methylomes in mouse placenta and neural stem cells (NSCs) via long-read nanopore sequencing. This accession corresponds to the RNA-seq for the NSCs.
Project description:Lead Exposure and Human Brain Evolution: A 2-Million-Year Perspective This study reveals that lead exposure was pervasive throughout human evolution, not just a modern phenomenon. Researchers analyzed 51 fossil teeth from multiple hominid species spanning 2+ million years across three continents, finding lead exposure evidence in 73% of specimens using advanced laser ablation mass spectrometry. The team then used human brain organoids carrying either modern or archaic (Neanderthal-like) variants of the NOVA1 gene to test lead's neurological impacts. They discovered that the archaic variant showed greater vulnerability to lead-induced disruption of FOXP2 expression—a gene crucial for speech and language development. This suggests environmental lead exposure may have created evolutionary pressure favoring the modern human NOVA1 variant, potentially giving our species advantages in communication and social cohesion. The research challenges established paradigms about both environmental toxin history and human evolution, proposing that gene-environment interactions with neurotoxins helped shape our species' cognitive development over millions of years.
Project description:Recent evidence suggests that nucleoporins, well known components that control nucleo-cytoplasmic trafficking, have wide-ranging functions in developmental gene regulation that potentially extend beyond their role in nuclear transport. Whether the unexpected role of nuclear pore proteins in transcription regulation, which initially has been described in fungi and flies, also applies to human cells is unknown. Here we show at a genome-wide level that the nuclear pore protein NUP98 associates with developmentally regulated genes active during human embryonic stem cell differentiation. Examination of Nup98 binding using multiple Nup98 antibodies in four cell types, three of which are related by direct lineage.
Project description:Several transcription factors are known to be expressed in discrete regions of the otic vesicle and Dlx5 is one of those that is expressed highly in the presumptive dorsal vestibular region. Mice lacking Dlx5 have vestibular defects. Specifically, they fail to form the endolymphatic duct (a defect visible as early as E10) as well as the anterior and posterior semi-circular canals. The lateral canal does form but is smaller, whereas the saccule, the utricle and the cochlea appear relatively normal. The goal of this study was to use microarrays to identify differentially expressed genes between wild-type and Dlx5-null otic vesicles microdissected from E10 and 10.5 and identify downstream targets of Dlx5 by searching the immediate 3kb promoter regions of the differentially expressed genes for homeodomain binding sites followed by chromatin immunoprecipitation in an otic vesicle-derived cell line over-expressing Dlx5. Normal vestibular morphogenesis is compromised in mice lacking Dlx5, a member of the Distal-less family of homeobox transcription factors. We identified its direct downstream targets in the developing mouse inner ear by gene expression profiling wild-type and Dlx5 null otic vesicles from embryonic stages E10 and E10.5. Four hundred genes were differentially expressed in mutants when compared to wild-type in at least one of the two stages. To further constrain the list of likely direct targets of Dlx5, we examined the genomic DNA sequences in the 3kb promoter regions immediately proximal to the transcriptional start sites of these genes. We searched for (i) one or more previously described binding site for Dlx5, (ii) one or more novel 12bp-long motifs with a canonical homeodomain response element (HDRE) shared by promoters of two or more genes, and (iii) 100% conservation of the 12bp-long HDRE-containing motifs in promoter regions of human orthologs. Forty genes passed one or more of these filters, 12 of which are known to be expressed in the developing otic vesicle in domains that at least partially overlap with that of Dlx5 in one or both stages that we examined. Chromatin immunoprecipitation using a Dlx5 antibody confirmed direct binding of Dlx5 to promoter regions of seven of these genes (Atbf1, Bmper, Large, Lrrtm1, and Msx1, all of which were down-regulated in mutants, and Ebf1 and Lhx1, both of which were up-regulated in mutants) in an otic vesicle-derived cell line over-expressing Dlx5. Gene expression profiling of this cell line showed that Bmper and Lrrtm1 transcripts were up-regulated, further supporting their identification as direct targets of Dlx5 activity. Otic vesicles from wild-type and Dlx5-null embryos were microdissected from mouse developmental stages E10 and E10.5 and expression profiled in duplicate for each stage and genotype. Dlx5-transfected and empty vector-transfected 2B1 cell line samples were also profiled in duplicate (independent cell cultures).
Project description:Single cell RNA-seq study of induced pluripotent stem cell derived neural stem cells. Analysis of gene expression over cell clusters identified inherent presence of neurogenic progenitors and gliogenic progenitors in established neural stem cells. This study aids to explain heterogeneity of neural stem cell identity and resolves gene expression enrichment in subpopulations of diverse progenitors. Processed and quality controlled data sets used for generating figure 4 in published article. Single cell raw data files for experiments were not made available.
Project description:We have performed gene expression microarray analysis to profile transcriptomic signatures affected by EtOH during neural differentiation of human embryonic stem cells H1 human embryonic stem cells were differentiated into neural rosettes and neural progenitor cells in the presence or absence of 20mM EtOH treatment. Undifferentiated passage 40 H1 cells were used as a parental control. Total RNA was isolated from biological duplicates and subjected to gene expression profiling analysis using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 plus 2.0 Array