Project description:We have used ATAC-seq to track cell state changes that occur during the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells to defined neural progenitor fates. We have performed ATAC-seq every 24 hours in cells en route to 3 distinct neural progenitors fates, anterior, hindbrain and spinal cord. This has allowed us to define how cells transition to a neural state, based on their enhancer usage. We identified regions distinct to different anterior-posterior neural progenitors, and validated their relevance by performing in vivo ATAC-seq on neural progenitors isolated from different axial levels of mouse embryos.
Project description:We analyzed the genome-wide binding of Sox2 and POU factor partner factors, Oct4 in ESCs (using published datasets PMID:18692474 and GSM307137, GSM307154, GSM307155) and Brn2 in NPCs. We found that Sox2 and Oct4 co-occupied a large subset of promoters and enhancers in ESCs, but that Sox2 and Brn2 co-occupy predominantly enhancers. Further, we overexpressed Brn2 in differentiating ESCs and showed that ectopic Brn2 recruited Sox2 to NPC-specific targets, resulting in skewed differentiation towards the neural lineage. Examination of transcription factor binding in ESCs, NPCs, and differentiating ESCs by ChIP-Seq.
Project description:We analyzed the genome-wide binding of Sox2 and POU factor partner factors, Oct4 in ESCs (using published datasets PMID:18692474 and GSM307137, GSM307154, GSM307155) and Brn2 in NPCs. We found that Sox2 and Oct4 co-occupied a large subset of promoters and enhancers in ESCs, but that Sox2 and Brn2 co-occupy predominantly enhancers. Further, we overexpressed Brn2 in differentiating ESCs and showed that ectopic Brn2 recruited Sox2 to NPC-specific targets, resulting in skewed differentiation towards the neural lineage.
Project description:In this study, we used chemically-defined media to induce the in vitro differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) towards eye field fates. Inhibition of Wnt/ß-Catenin signalling was sufficient to drive ESCs to telencephalic, but not retinal fates. Instead, retinal progenitors could be generated from competent differentiating mouse and human ESCs by the activation of Activin/Nodal signaling within a narrow temporal window corresponding to the emergence of primitive anterior neural progenitors. Our results reveal insights into the mechanisms of eye field specification and open new avenues towards the generation of retinal progenitors for translational medicine.
Project description:The Melanoma-associated Antigen gene family (MAGE) generally encodes for tumour antigens. We recently have identified one of the MAGE gene members, Mageb16 to be highly expressed in undifferentiated murine embryonic stem cells (mESCs). The role of Mageb16 for the differentiation of the pluripotent stem cells is completely unknown. Here we demonstrate that Mageb16 (41 kDa) is distributed in cytosol and/or in surface membrane in undifferentiated mESCs. A transcriptome study was performed with differentiated short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated Mageb16 knockdown (KD ESCs) and scrambled control (SCR) ESCs until a period of 22 days. Mageb16 KD ESCs mainly differentiated towards mesodermal derivatives such as cardiovascular lineages. Mesoderm-oriented differentiation initiated biological processes such as adipogenesis, osteogenesis, limb morphogenesis and spermatogenesis were significantly enriched in the differentiated Mageb16 KD ESCs. Cardiomyogenesis in differentiated KD mESCs was stronger when compared to differentiated SCR and wild mESCs. The expression of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) Lin28a and other epigenetic regulatory genes, nucleocytoplasmic trafficking and genes participating in spermatogenesis have also declined faster in the differentiating Mageb16 KD ESCs. We conclude that Mageb16 plays a crucial role for differentiation of ESCs, specifically to the mesodermal lineages. Regulative epigenetic networks and nucleocytoplasmic modifications induced by Mageb16 may play a role for the critical role of Mageb16 for the ESCs differentiation.
Project description:Mll2 (ALR) is a histone 3 lysine 4 trimethyltransferase to function as gene activation.In our study, we found that Mll2 is vital for proper control of proliferation and lineage differentiation of mouse ESCs, particularly towards the cardiac-specific lineages. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression to compare the difference after Mll2 knockdown in E14 cell lines.
Project description:We investigate the impact of DNA methylation on chromatin accessibility during epiblast differentiation. To this end, we used in vitro Epiblast-like cell (EpiLC) differentiation on WT and DNA-methylation free TKO murine ESCs. We next performed ATAC seq using TDE1 Tn5 transposase (Nextera).