Project description:Bromodomain-containing protein 2 (Brd2) is a BET family chromatin adaptor required for expression of cell-cycle-associated genes and therefore involved in cell cycle progression. Brd2 is expressed in proliferating neuronal progenitors, displays cell-cycle-stimulating activity and, when overexpressed, impairs neuronal differentiation. Paradoxically, Brd2 is also detected in differentiating neurons. To shed light on the role of Brd2 in the transition from cell proliferation to differentiation, we had previously looked for proteins that interacted with Brd2 upon induction of neuronal differentiation. Surprisingly, we identified the growth factor pleiotrophin (Ptn). Here, we show that Ptn antagonized the cell-cycle-stimulating activity associated with Brd2, thus enhancing induced neuronal differentiation. Moreover, Ptn knockdown reduced neuronal differentiation. We analyzed Ptn-mediated antagonism of Brd2 in a cell differentiation model and in two embryonic processes associated with the neural tube: spinal cord neurogenesis and neural crest migration. Finally, we investigated the mechanisms of Ptn-mediated antagonism and determined that Ptn destabilizes the association of Brd2 with chromatin. Thus, Ptn-mediated Brd2 antagonism emerges as a modulation system accounting for the balance between cell proliferation and differentiation in the vertebrate nervous system.
Project description:Dysfunction of protein trafficking has been intensively associated with neurological diseases, including neurodegeneration, but whether and how protein transport contributes to oligodendrocyte (OL) maturation and myelin repair in white matter injury remains unclear. ER-to-Golgi trafficking of newly synthesized proteins is mediated by coat protein complex II (COPII). Here, we demonstrate that the COPII component Sec13 was essential for OL differentiation and postnatal myelination. Ablation of Sec13 in the OL lineage prevented OPC differentiation and inhibited myelination and remyelination after demyelinating injury in the central nervous system (CNS), while improving protein trafficking by tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) or ectopic expression of COPII components accelerated myelination. COPII components were upregulated in OL lineage cells after demyelinating injury. Loss of Sec13 altered the secretome of OLs and inhibited the secretion of pleiotrophin (PTN), which was found to function as an autocrine factor to promote OL differentiation and myelin repair. These data suggest that Sec13-dependent protein transport is essential for OL differentiation and that Sec13-mediated PTN autocrine signaling is required for proper myelination and remyelination.
Project description:Osteoclast (OC) development in response to nuclear factor kappa-Β ligand (RANKL) is critical for bone homeostasis in health and in disease. The early and direct chromatin regulatory changes imparted by the BET chromatin readers Brd2-4 and OC-affiliated transcription factors (TFs) during osteoclastogenesis are not known. Here, we demonstrate that in response to RANKL, early OC development entails regulation of two alternative cell fate transcriptional programmes, OC vs macrophage, with repression of the latter following activation of the former. Both programmes are regulated in a non-redundant manner by increased chromatin binding of Brd2 at promoters and of Brd4 at enhancers/super-enhancers. Myc, the top RANKL-induced TF, regulates OC development in co-operation with Brd2/4 and Max and by establishing negative and positive regulatory loops with other lineage-affiliated TFs. These insights into the transcriptional regulation of osteoclastogenesis suggest the clinical potential of selective targeting of Brd2/4 to abrogate pathological OC activation.
Project description:The BET proteins are major transcriptional regulators and have emerged as new drug targets, but their functional distinction has remained elusive. In this study, we report that the BET family members Brd2 and Brd4 exert distinct genomic functions at genes whose transcription they co-regulate during mouse T helper 17 (Th17) cell differentiation. Brd2 is associated with the chromatin insulator CTCF and the cohesin complex to support cis-regulatory enhancer assembly for gene transcriptional activation. In this context, Brd2 binds the transcription factor Stat3 in an acetylation-sensitive manner and facilitates Stat3 recruitment to active enhancers occupied with transcription factors Irf4 and Batf. In parallel, Brd4 temporally controls RNA polymerase II (Pol II) processivity during transcription elongation through cyclin T1 and Cdk9 recruitment and Pol II Ser2 phosphorylation. Collectively, our study uncovers both separate and interdependent Brd2 and Brd4 functions in potentiating the genetic program required for Th17 cell development and adaptive immunity.
Project description:In adult hippocampal neurogenesis, chromatin modification plays an important role in neural stem cell self-renewal and differentiation by regulating the expression of multiple genes. Histone deacetylases (HDACs), which remove acetyl groups from histones, create a non-permissive chromatin that prevents transcription of genes involved in adult neurogenesis. HDAC inhibitors have been shown to promote adult neurogenesis and have also been used to treat nervous system disorders, such as epilepsy. However, most HDAC inhibitors are not specific and may have other targets. Therefore, it is important to decipher the role of individual HDACs in adult hippocampal neurogenesis. HDACs 1, 2, and 3 have been found expressed at different cellular stages during neurogenesis. Conditional deletion of HDAC2 in neural stem cells impairs neuronal differentiation in adult hippocampus. HDAC3 supports proliferation of adult hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells. The role of HDAC1 in adult neurogenesis remains still open. Here, we used a conditional knock-out mouse to block HDAC1 expression in neural stem cells (Nestin+ cells) during hippocampal neurogenesis. Our results showed that both HDAC1 and HDAC2 are expressed in all cellular stages during hippocampal neurogenesis. Moreover, we found that deletion of HDAC1 by viral infection of neural stem cells is sufficient to compromise neuronal differentiation in vitro. However, we were unable to reduce the expression of HDAC1 in vivo using Nestin-CreERT2 mice. Understanding the role of HDAC1 may lead to ways to control stem cell proliferation and neuronal regeneration in the adult hippocampus, and to more specific HDAC therapeutics for neurological disorders.
Project description:Pleiotrophin (PTN) is an extracellular matrix-associated growth factor and chemokine expressed in mesodermal and ectodermal cells. It plays an important role in osteoblast recruitment and differentiation. There is limited information currently available about PTN expression during odontoblast differentiation and tooth formation, and thus the authors aimed to establish the spatiotemporal expression pattern of PTN during mouse odontogenesis. Immortalized mouse dental pulp (MD10-D3, MD10-A11) and odontoblast-like (M06-G3) and ameloblast-like (EOE-3M) cell lines were grown and samples prepared for immunocytochemistry, Western blot, and conventional and quantitative PCR analysis. Effects of BMP2, BMP4, and BMP7 treatment on PTN expression in odontoblast-like M06-G3 cells were tested by quantitative PCR. Finally, immunohistochemistry of sectioned mice mandibles and maxillaries at developmental stages E16, E18, P1, P6, P10, and P28 was performed. The experiments showed that PTN, at both the mRNA and protein level, was expressed in all tested epithelial and mesenchymal dental cell lines and that the level of PTN mRNA was influenced differentially by the bone morphogenetic proteins. The authors observed initial expression of PTN in the inner enamel epithelium with prolonged expression in the ameloblasts and odontoblasts throughout their stages of maturation and strong expression in the terminally differentiated and enamel matrix-secreting ameloblasts and odontoblasts of the adult mouse incisors and molars.
Project description:Mammalian chromosomes are organized into megabase-sized compartments that are further subdivided into topologically associating domains (TADs). While the formation of TADs is dependent on cohesin, the mechanism behind compartmentalization remains enigmatic. Here, we show that the bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) family scaffold protein BRD2 promotes spatial mixing and compartmentalization of active chromatin after cohesin loss. This activity is independent of transcription but requires BRD2 to recognize acetylated targets through its double bromodomain and interact with binding partners with its low-complexity domain. Notably, genome compartmentalization mediated by BRD2 is antagonized on the one hand by cohesin and on the other hand by the BET homolog protein BRD4, both of which inhibit BRD2 binding to chromatin. Polymer simulation of our data supports a BRD2-cohesin interplay model of nuclear topology, in which genome compartmentalization results from a competition between loop extrusion and chromatin-state-specific affinity interactions.
Project description:Newly generated neurons pass through a series of well-defined developmental stages, which allow them to integrate into existing neuronal circuits. After exit from the cell cycle, postmitotic neurons undergo neuronal migration, axonal elongation, axon pruning, dendrite morphogenesis and synaptic maturation and plasticity. Lack of a global metabolic analysis during early cortical neuronal development led us to explore the role of cellular metabolism and mitochondrial biology during ex vivo differentiation of primary cortical neurons. Unexpectedly, we observed a huge increase in mitochondrial biogenesis. Changes in mitochondrial mass, morphology and function were correlated with the upregulation of the master regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis, TFAM and PGC-1α. Concomitant with mitochondrial biogenesis, we observed an increase in glucose metabolism during neuronal differentiation, which was linked to an increase in glucose uptake and enhanced GLUT3 mRNA expression and platelet isoform of phosphofructokinase 1 (PFKp) protein expression. In addition, glutamate-glutamine metabolism was also increased during the differentiation of cortical neurons. We identified PI3K-Akt-mTOR signalling as a critical regulator role of energy metabolism in neurons. Selective pharmacological inhibition of these metabolic pathways indicate existence of metabolic checkpoint that need to be satisfied in order to allow neuronal differentiation.
Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified thousands of variants associated with complex phenotypes, including neuropsychiatric disorders. To better understand their pathogenesis, it is necessary to identify the functional roles of these variants, which are largely located in non-coding DNA regions. Here, we employ a human mesencephalic neuronal cell differentiation model, LUHMES, with sensitive and high-resolution methods to discover enhancers (NET-CAGE), perform DNA conformation analysis (Capture Hi-C) to link enhancers to their target genes, and finally validate selected interactions. We expand the number of known enhancers active in differentiating human LUHMES neurons to 47,350, and find overlap with GWAS variants for Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. Our findings reveal a fine-tuned regulation of human neuronal differentiation, even between adjacent developmental stages; provide a valuable resource for further studies on neuronal development, regulation, and disorders; and emphasize the importance of exploring the vast regulatory potential of non-coding DNA and enhancers.
Project description:Chondroitin sulfate (CS) E is the natural ligand for pleiotrophin (PTN) in the central nervous system (CNS) of the embryo. Some structures of PTN in solution have been solved, but no precise location of the binding site has been reported yet. Using 15N-labelled PTN and HSQC NMR experiments, we studied the interactions with a synthetic CS-E tetrasaccharide corresponding to the minimum binding sequence. The results agree with the data for larger GAG (glycosaminoglycans) sequences and confirm our hypothesis that a synthetic tetrasaccharide is long enough to fully interact with PTN. We hypothesize that the central region of PTN is an intrinsically disordered region (IDR) and could modify its properties upon binding. The second tetrasaccharide has two benzyl groups and shows similar effects on PTN. Finally, the last measured compound aggregated but beforehand, showed a behavior compatible with a slow exchange in the NMR time scale. We propose the same binding site and mode for the tetrasaccharides with and without benzyl groups.