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Meis1 coordinates a network of genes implicated in eye development and microphthalmia

ABSTRACT: Microphthalmos is a rare congenital anomaly characterized by reduced eye size and visual deficits of variable degrees. Sporadic and hereditary microphthalmos has been associated to heterozygous mutations in genes fundamental for eye development. Yet, many cases are idiopathic or await the identification of molecular causes. Here we show that haploinsufficiency of Meis1, a transcription factor with an evolutionary conserved expression in the embryonic trunk, brain and sensory organs, including the eye, causes microphthalmic traits and visual impairment, in adult mice. In the trunk, Meis1 acts as a cofactor for genes of the Hox complex, mostly binding to Hox-Pbx target sequence on the DNA. By combining the analysis of Meis1 loss-of-function and conditional Meis1 functional rescue with ChIPseq and RNAseq approaches, we show that during the development of the optic cup, an Hox-free region, Meis1 binds instead to Hox/Pbx-independent Meis binding site, and coordinates, in a dose-dependent manner, retinal proliferation and differentiation by regulating the expression of components of the Notch signalling pathway. Meis1 also controls the activity of genes responsible for human microphthalmia and eye patterning so that in Meis1-/- embryos, the eye size is reduced and boundaries among the different eye territories are shifted or blurred. We thus propose that Meis1 is at the core of a genetic network implicated in microphthalmia, itself representing an additional candidate for syndromic cases of these ocular malformations.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE62786 | GEO | 2015/08/27

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA265110

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:During an ENU (N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea) mutagenesis screen, we observed a dominant small-eye mutant mouse with viable homozygotes. A corresponding mutant line was established and referred to as Aey69 (abnormality of the eye #69). Comprehensive phenotyping of the homozygous Aey69 mutants in the German Mouse Clinic revealed only a subset of statistically significant alterations between wild types and homozygous mutants. The mutation causes microphthalmia without a lens but with retinal hyperproliferation. Linkage was demonstrated to mouse chromosome 3 between the markers D3Mit188 and D3Mit11. Sequencing revealed a 358A->C mutation (Ile120Leu) in the Hist2h3c1 gene and a 71T->C (Val24Ala) mutation in the Gja8 gene. Detailed analysis of eye development in the homozygous mutant mice documented a perturbed lens development starting from the lens vesicle stage including decreasing expression of crystallins as well as of lens-specific transcription factors like PITX3 and FOXE3. In contrast, we observed an early expression of retinal progenitor cells characterized by several markers including BRN3 (retinal ganglion cells) and OTX2 (cone photoreceptors). The changes in the retina at the early embryonic stages of E11.5-E15.5 happen in parallel with apoptotic processes in the lens at the respective stages. The excessive retinal hyperproliferation is characterized by an increased level of Ki67. The hyperproliferation, however, does not disrupt the differentiation and appearance of the principal retinal cell types at postnatal stages, even if the overgrowing retina covers finally the entire bulbus of the eye. Morpholino-mediated knock-down of the hist2h3ca1 gene in zebrafish leads to a specific perturbation of lens development. When injected into zebrafish zygotes, only the mutant mouse mRNA leads to severe malformations, ranging from cyclopia to severe microphthalmia. The wild-type Hist2h3c1 mRNA can rescue the morpholino-induced defects corroborating its specific function in lens development. Based upon these data, it is concluded that the ocular function of the Hist2h3c1 gene (encoding a canonical H3.2 variant) is conserved throughout evolution. Moreover, the data highlight also the importance of Hist2h3c1 in the coordinated formation of lens and retina during eye development.

Project description:OBJECTIVE: MEIS1, a HOX cofactor, collaborates with multiple HOX and NUP98-HOX fusion proteins to accelerate the onset of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) through largely unknown molecular mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To further resolve these mechanisms, we conducted a structure-function analysis of MEIS1 and gene-expression profiling, in the context of NUP98-HOXD13 (ND13) leukemogenesis. RESULTS: We show, in a murine bone marrow transplantation model, that the PBX-interaction domain, the homeodomain, and the C-terminal domain of MEIS1, are all required for leukemogenic collaboration with ND13. In contrast, the N-terminal domain of MEIS1 is dispensable for collaboration with ND13, but is required for Flt3 upregulation, indicating additional roles for MEIS1 in induction of leukemia independent of alterations in Flt3 expression. Gene-expression profiling of a cloned ND13 preleukemic cell line transduced with wild-type or Meis1 mutant forms revealed deregulation of multiple genes, including a set not previously implicated as MEIS1 targets. Chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed the in vivo occupancy of MEIS1 on regulatory sequences of Trib2, Flt3, Dlk1, Ccl3, Ccl4, Pf4, and Rgs1. Furthermore, engineered overexpression of Trib2 complements ND13 to induce AML while Ccl3 potentiates the repopulating ability of ND13. CONCLUSION: This study shows that Meis1-induced leukemogenesis with ND13 can occur in the absence of Flt3 upregulation and reveals the existence of other pathways activated by MEIS1 to promote leukemia. Establishment of pre-leukemic bone marrow cell lines following transduction with ND13 have been previously described (Pineault, Abramovich et al. 2005). In brief, lines were established from BM cells previously treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) from (C57Bl/6Ly-Pep3b x C3H/HeJ) F1 (PepC3) (Ly5.1+/Ly5.2+) mice freshly transduced with the ND13-GFP or ND13pac virus and maintained in liquid culture. To generate ND13+Meis1 or ND13+Meis1 mutant BM cell lines, the ND13 BM cells were transduced by co-cultivation on irradiated (4,000 cGy) E86 producers for Meis1-YFP (or Meis1 mutant forms), respectively, for a period of 2 days in the presence of 5 µg/ml of protamine sulfate. Three independent experiments were performed for each of the four different conditions included in the study.

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Meis1 coordinates a network of genes implicated in eye development and microphthalmia

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