RNA level differences between neurons in soft and stiff environments
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Hippocampal rat neurons have been cultured on very soft (100 Pa) and stiff (10 kPa) hydrogels for 7 days. On DIV7, the RNA has been extracted and sequenced. The goal of this experiment is to understand why neurons mature more quickly on soft gels compared to stiff gels.
Project description:We report a transcriptome sequencing to identify mechanosensitive genes 12-36 hours after initiating differentiation of adult rat neural stem cells on 2D soft and stiff laminin-coated polyacrylamide gels.
Project description:In this project, we cultured rat hippocampal neurons in mechanically different environments and studied electrical maturation. We compared WT neurons with two different Piezo1 knockdown conditions. These two knockdown conditions were generated in two independent CRISPR-Cas9 KD assays. Each assay is based on four different CRISPR-Cas9 guides targeting the Piezo1 gene. RNA sequencing was used to analyse the pathway leading to the stiffness dependent maturation behaviour.
Project description:To investigate the influence of stiffness as a major Bruch's membrane characteristic on the RPE transcriptome and morphology. ARPE-19 cells were plated on soft or stiff polyacrylamide gels (PA gels) or standard tissue culture plastic (TCP). We then performed gene expression profiling analysis using data obtained from Next-generation sequencing of small RNAs of ARPE-19 cells cultured on 3 different biomechanical conditions.
Project description:To investigate the influence of stiffness as a major Bruch's membrane characteristic on the RPE transcriptome and morphology. ARPE-19 cells were plated on soft or stiff polyacrylamide gels (PA gels) or standard tissue culture plastic (TCP). We then performed gene expression profiling analysis using data obtained from Next-generation sequencing of small RNAs of ARPE-19 cells cultured on 3 different biomechanical conditions.
Project description:We undertook mRNA microarray and gene ontology analyses to screen out substrate stiffness-dependent genes. Total mRNA were extracted from E17 cortical neurons grown on soft or stiff substrates at 5 or 16 hr time points. We identified 114 differentially-expressed mRNA transcripts in cells grown on 0.1 kPa and 20 kPa gels at the 5 hr time-point. Among them, 66 were upregulated in 0.1 kPa gel cultures and the remainder were downregulated (compared to cells grown on stiffer substrates). The expressions of three endocytic genes (Cltc, Dab2, and Myo6) and four adhesion genes(Vcl, Robo2, Nrcam, and Cad11) were confirmed by QGP and smRNA FISH.
Project description:Understanding how cells respond to the mechanics of their environment, and what affect senescence may have on this response, is important to gain a better understanding of mechanobiology, both in health and ageing-associated pathology. This experiment assessed the mRNA levels in early and late passage donor-matched human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) cultured for four days on soft (2 kPa) or stiff (25 kPa) collagen-I coated polyacrylamide (PA) gels. A minimum of three donors were analysed under each condition. Protein coding RNAs were sequenced with Illumina HiSeq technology. In a parallel experiment, protein was quantified by mass spectrometry proteomics.
Project description:Tissue stiffness is a critical prognostic factor in breast cancer and is associated with metastatic progression. Here we show an alternative and complementary hypothesis of tumor progression whereby physiological matrix stiffness affects the quantity and protein cargo of small EVs produced by cancer cells, which in turn aid cancer cell dissemination. Primary patient breast tissue produces significantly more EVs from stiff tumor tissue than soft tumor adjacent tissue. EVs released by cancer cells on matrices that model human breast tumors (25 kPa; stiff EVs) feature increased adhesion molecule presentation (ITGα2β1, ITGα6β4, ITGα6β1, CD44) compared to EVs from softer normal tissue (0.5 kPa; soft EVs), which facilitates their binding to extracellular matrix (ECM) protein collagen IV, and a 3-fold increase in homing ability to distant organs in mice. In a zebrafish xenograft model, stiff EVs aid cancer cell dissemination. Moreover, normal, resident lung fibroblasts treated with stiff and soft EVs change their gene expression profiles to adopt a cancer associated fibroblast (CAF) phenotype. These findings show that EV quantity, cargo, and function depend heavily on the mechanical properties of the extracellular microenvironment.
Project description:Purpose: To identify genes and the molecular pathways involved in the MSCs response to extracellular matrix stiffness, we performed RNA-sequencing of MSCs which cultured in soft (2 kPa) and stiff (18 kPa) SA hydrogels. Methods: mRNA profiles of MSCs cultured in soft (2 kPa) and stiff (18 kPa) SA hydrogel for 48 h were generated by deep sequencing, in quadruplicate, using Illumina HiSeq 2000. Results: Using an optimized data analysis workflow, we identified 33950 transcripts in MSCs with BWA workflow. Conclusions: Our results present the detailed analysis of MSCs transcriptomes cultured in soft (2 kPa) and stiff (18 kPa) matrix, and found that matrix stiffness dominated multiple mRNA pathways in MSCs.