Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

0 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Efficient stimulation of retinal regeneration from Muller glia in adult mice using combinations of proneural bHLH transcription factors.

ABSTRACT: Regenerative neuroscience aims to stimulate endogenous repair mechanisms in the nervous system to replace neurons that have been lost from degenerative diseases or trauma. In the retina, many non-mammalian vertebrate species spontaneously regenerate retinal neurons from glial cells, through an injury-induced reprogramming of the cells to a retinal progenitor state. Recently, we have reported that engineering mouse Muller glia to express a retinal progenitor gene, the proneural transcription factor, Ascl1, is sufficient to stimulate neurogenesis in the glia to generate functional neurons. However, this process is inefficient and only a third of the Ascl1-expressing glia generate new neurons. Here we test whether proneural transcription factors of the Atoh1/7 class can further promote the neurogenic capacity of MG. We report that the combination of Ascl1:Atoh1 is remarkably efficient at stimulating neurogenesis (>80% expressing cells), even in the absence of retinal injury or TSA. We use electrophysiology and scRNA-seq to demonstrate that Ascl1:Atoh1 generates a diversity of retinal neuron types with the majority expressing characteristics of retinal ganglion cells. Overall, our results provide a proof-of-principle that transcription factors that are normally sequentially active in cell fate specification, can when combined, substantially improve glial reprogramming to neurons and expand the repertoire of cell fates that can be regenerated in the adult mouse retina. The ability to stimulate the neurogenic potential of glia in adult mice with high efficiency is a key step towards translation of this approach to repair the central nervous system.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE184286 | GEO | 2021/10/19

REPOSITORIES: GEO

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Similar Datasets

Reprogramming Muller glia to regenerate ganglion-like cells in adult mouse retina with developmental transcription factors.

Project description:Many neurodegenerative diseases cause degeneration of specific types of neurons. For example, glaucoma leads to death of retinal ganglion cells, leaving other neurons intact. Neurons are not regenerated in the adult mammalian central nervous system. However, in non-mammalian vertebrates, glial cells spontaneously reprogram into neural progenitors and replace neurons after injury. We have recently developed strategies to stimulate regeneration of functional neurons in the adult mouse retina by overexpressing the proneural factor Ascl1 in Müller glia. In this report, we test additional transcription factors (TFs) for their ability to direct regeneration to particular types of retinal neurons. We engineered mice to express different combinations of TFs in MG, including Ascl1, Pou4f2, Islet1 and Atoh1. Using IHC, scRNA-seq, scATAC-seq, and electrophysiology we find retinal ganglion-like cells can be regenerated in the damaged adult mouse retina in vivo with targeted overexpression of developmental RGC-transcription factors.

2022-09-15 | GSE211077 | GEO

The impact of timing and injury mode on induced neurogenesis in the adult mammalian retina

Project description:Regeneration of neurons has enormous implications for human health and is a topic of interest both from the biological and translational perspective. The retina poses an excellent system to study the potential of replacing neurons following injury and the impact different lesions can have on this process. We have established mouse models where proneural transcription factors are expressed in Müller glia to stimulate neurogenesis, which is analogous to how zebrafish regenerate the retina after injury. Our previous studies have shown that Müller glia overexpressing either Ascl1 or Ascl1-Atoh1 will respond to inner retinal damage, caused by a neurotoxic dose of NMDA, by acquiring a progenitor-like state and giving rise to bipolar cells or retinal ganglion-like cells, respectively. It was not known however whether neurogenesis would still occur if the retina suffered outer retinal injury and if the timing of injury relative to the expression of proneural factors was critical for the process. To address these questions, we explored whether timing or mode of injury affect the induced neurogenesis from MG. We show that reprogramming MG with Ascl1 is not impacted by the mode or timing of injury, since all paradigms resulted in similar ratios of new bipolar neurons. By contrast, MG that express Ascl1-Atoh1 respond to outer retinal damage by producing a new type of retinal ganglion-like cell that is not generated after NMDA injury. Therefore, although the fate of reprogrammed neurons is mostly dictated by the proneural transcription factors, there is a context-dependent effect of the injured retinal microenvironment.

2023-12-13 | GSE250019 | GEO

Expression profiling of Ascl1-reprogrammed P12 Müller glia compared with freshly dissociated progenitors and Müller glia

Project description:Non-mammalian vertebrates have a robust ability to regenerate injured retinal neurons from Müller glia cells (MG) that activate the proneural factor Achaete-scute homolog 1 (Ascl1/Mash1) and de-differentiate into progenitors cells. In contrast, mammalian MG have a limited regenerative response and fail to upregulate Ascl1 after injury. To test whether Ascl1 could restore a neurogenic potential to mammalian MG, we over-expressed Ascl1 in dissociated mouse MG cultures and intact retinal explants. Ascl1-infected MG upregulate retinal progenitor-specific genes, while downregulating glial genes. Furthermore, Ascl1 remodeled the chromatin at its targets from a repressive to active configuration. MG-derived progenitors differentiated into cells that exhibited neuronal morphologies, expressed retinal subtype-specific neuronal markers, and displayed neuron-like physiological responses. These results indicate that a single transcription factor, Ascl1, can produce a neurogenic state in mature Muller glia. Expresssion profiling was used to determine the genes that were changed after Ascl1 infection of P12 cultured Müller glia compared with those present in P0 progenitors and P7-P21 Müller glia Retinas were dissociated and FAC-sorted from Hes5-GFP mice at P0, P7, P10, P14 or P21 and submitted for profiling. WT Retinas were dissociated at P12, grown for 1 week in culture, and infected with lentiviruses expressing Ascl1 or GFP for four days. Total RNA was extracted and submitted for profiling.

2013-04-06 | E-GEOD-45835 | biostudies-arrayexpress

Expression profiling of Ascl1-reprogrammed P12 Müller glia compared with freshly dissociated progenitors and Müller glia

2013-04-06 | GSE45835 | GEO

Stimulation of functional neuronal regeneration from Müller glia in adult mice

Project description:Many retinal diseases lead to the loss of retinal neurons and cause visual impairment. The adult mammalian retina has little capacity for regeneration. By contrast, teleost fish functionally regenerate their retina following injury, and Müller glia (MG) are the source of regenerated neurons. The proneural transcription factor Ascl1 is upregulated in MG after retinal damage in zebrafish and is necessary for regeneration. Although Ascl1 is not expressed in mammalian MG after injury, forced expression of Ascl1 in mouse MG induces a neurogenic state in vitro and in vivo after NMDA (N-methyl-d-aspartate) damage in young mice. However, by postnatal day 16, mouse MG lose neurogenic capacity, despite Ascl1 overexpression. Loss of neurogenic capacity in mature MG is accompanied by reduced chromatin accessibility, suggesting that epigenetic factors limit regeneration. Here we show that MG-specific overexpression of Ascl1, together with a histone deacetylase inhibitor, enables adult mice to generate neurons from MG after retinal injury. The MG-derived neurons express markers of inner retinal neurons, synapse with host retinal neurons, and respond to light. Using an assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq), we show that the histone deacetylase inhibitor promotes accessibility at key gene loci in the MG, and allows more effective reprogramming. Our results thus provide a new approach for the treatment of blinding retinal diseases.

2021-01-10 | GSE164489 | GEO

Single cell RNA sequencing unravels the transcriptional network underlying zebrafish retina regeneration

Project description:In the lesioned zebrafish retina, Müller glia produce multipotent retinal progenitors that generate all retinal neurons, replacing lost cell types. To study the molecular mechanisms linking Müller glia reactivity to progenitor production and neuronal differentiation, we used single cell RNA sequencing of Müller glia, progenitors and regenerated progeny from uninjured and light-lesioned retinae. We discover an injury-induced Müller glia differentiation trajectory that leads into a cell population with a hybrid identity expressing marker genes of Müller glia and progenitors. A glial self-renewal and a neurogenic trajectory depart from the hybrid cell population. We further observe that neurogenic progenitors progressively differentiate to generate retinal ganglion cells first and bipolar cells last, similar to the events observed during retinal development. Our work provides a comprehensive description of Müller glia and progenitor transcriptional changes and fate decisions in the regenerating retina, which are key to tailor cell differentiation and replacement therapies for retinal dystrophies in humans.

2023-03-03 | GSE226373 | GEO

Microglia suppress Ascl1-induced retinal regeneration in mice.

Project description:The innate immune system plays key roles in tissue regeneration. For example, microglia promote neurogenesis in Müller glia in birds and fish after injury. Although mammalian retina does not normally regenerate, neurogenesis can be induced in mouse Müller glia by Ascl1, a proneural transcription factor. We show that in mice, microglia inhibit the Ascl1-mediated retinal regeneration, suggesting the innate immune system limits the regenerative response to injury.

2020-12-30 | GSE161394 | GEO

ASCL1 induces neurogenesis in human Muller glia

Project description:In mammals, loss of retinal cells due to disease or trauma is an irreversible process which can lead to blindness. Interestingly, regeneration of retinal neurons is a well-established process in some non-mammalian vertebrates and is driven by the Muller glia (MG), which are able to re-enter the cell cycle and reprogram into neurogenic progenitors upon retinal injury or disease. Progress has been made to restore this mechanism in mammals to promote retinal regeneration: MG can be stimulated to generate new neurons in vivo in the adult mouse retina after the over-expression of the pro-neural transcription factor Ascl1. In this study, we applied the same strategy to reprogram human MG derived from fetal retina and retinal organoids into neurons. Combining scRNA-seq, scATAC-seq, Immunofluorescence, and electrophysiology we demonstrate that human MG can be reprogrammed into neurogenic cells in vitro.

2023-10-30 | GSE246169 | GEO

Cis-Regulatory Accessibility Directs Muller Glial Development and Regenerative Capacity

Project description:Diseases and damage to the retina lead to losses in retinal neurons and eventual visual impairment. Although the mammalian retina has no inherent regenerative capabilities, fish have robust regeneration from Müller glia (MG). Recently, we have shown that driving expression of Ascl1 in adult mouse MG stimulates neurogenesis similar to fish regeneration. The regeneration observed in the mouse is limited in the variety of neurons that can be derived from MG; Ascl1-expressing MG primarily generate bipolar cells. To better understand the limits of MG-based regeneration in mouse retinas, we used ATAC- and RNA-seq to compare newborn progenitors with MG. Our analysis demonstrated striking similarities between MG and progenitors, with losses in regulatory motifs for neurogenesis genes. Young MG were found to have intermediate expression profiles and accessible DNA, which is mirrored in the ability of Ascl1 to direct bipolar neurogenesis in young MG. When comparing what makes bipolar and photoreceptor cells distinct from glial cells, we find that bipolar-specific accessible regions are more frequently linked to bHLH motifs and Ascl1 binding, indicating that Ascl1 preferentially binds to bipolar regions. Overall, our analysis indicates a loss of neurogenic gene expression and motif accessibility during glial maturation that may prevent efficient reprogramming.

2020-08-19 | GSE137318 | GEO

Comparative transcriptomic and epigenomic analysis identifies key regulators of injury response and neurogenic competence in retinal glia

Project description:Injury induces retinal Muller glia of non-mammalian, but not mammalian, vertebrates to generate neurons. To identify gene regulatory networks that control neurogenic competence in retinal glia, we used bulk and single-cell RNA-seq and ATAC-seq analysis to comprehensively profile gene expression and chromatin conformation in Muller glia from zebrafish, chick and mice. This was conducted during glial development, following inner and outer retinal injury, as well as following treatment with extrinsic factors that induce glial reprogramming. Integration of these data, together with functional analysis of candidate genes, identified evolutionarily conserved and species-specific gene regulatory networks controlling glial quiescence, gliosis, and neurogenic competence. In zebrafish and chick, transition from quiescence to gliosis is a necessary stage in acquisition of neurogenic competence, while in mice a dedicated network suppresses this transition and rapidly restores quiescence. These findings may help guide the design of cell-based therapies aimed at restoring retinal neurons lost to disease.

2020-05-01 | GSE135406 | GEO

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

OmicsDI is an Elixir interoperability service. Learn more ›

OmicsDI Databases

PRIDE
PeptideAtlas
MassIVE
JPOST Repository
Physiome Model Repository

EGA
EVA
ENA
LINCS
PAXDB
Cell Collective

MetaboLights
Metabolomics Workbench
MetabolomeExpress
GNPS
BioModels
FAIRDOMHub

ArrayExpress
dbGaP
ExpressionAtlas
GEO
NODE

Information

Databases
Help
API
Contact us
Code on GitHub
Terms of use
Submit Data