Project description:To identify genes expressed during initiation of lung organogenesis, we generated transcriptional profiles of the prospective lung region of the mouse foregut (mid-foregut) microdissected from embryos at three developmental stages between embryonic day 8.5 (E8.5) and E9.5. This period spans from lung specification of foregut cells to the emergence of the primary lung buds. We identified a number of known and novel genes that are temporally regulated as the lung bud forms. Genes that regulate transcription, including DNA binding factors, co-factors, and chromatin remodeling genes, are the main functional groups that change during lung bud formation. Members of key developmental transcription and growth factor families, not previously described to participate in lung organogenesis, are expressed in the mid-foregut during lung bud induction. These studies also show early expression in the mid-foregut of genes that participate in later stages of lung development. This characterization of the mid-foregut transcriptome provides new insights into molecular events leading to lung organogenesis.
Project description:To identify genes expressed during initiation of lung organogenesis, we generated transcriptional profiles of the prospective lung region of the mouse foregut (mid-foregut) microdissected from embryos at three developmental stages between embryonic day 8.5 (E8.5) and E9.5. This period spans from lung specification of foregut cells to the emergence of the primary lung buds. We identified a number of known and novel genes that are temporally regulated as the lung bud forms. Genes that regulate transcription, including DNA binding factors, co-factors, and chromatin remodeling genes, are the main functional groups that change during lung bud formation. Members of key developmental transcription and growth factor families, not previously described to participate in lung organogenesis, are expressed in the mid-foregut during lung bud induction. These studies also show early expression in the mid-foregut of genes that participate in later stages of lung development. This characterization of the mid-foregut transcriptome provides new insights into molecular events leading to lung organogenesis. Three samples (developmental stages), three biological replicates (5-10 pooled mid-foreguts)
Project description:Foregut organogenesis is regulated by inductive interactions between the endoderm and the adjacent mesoderm. We identified genes induced in the foregut progenitors by the adjacent mesoderm. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of early foregut endoderm gene expression resulting from mesoderm induction and identified distinct classes of up-regulated genes during this process.
Project description:Foregut organogenesis is regulated by inductive interactions between the endoderm and the adjacent mesoderm. We identified genes induced in the foregut progenitors by the adjacent mesoderm. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of early foregut endoderm gene expression resulting from mesoderm induction and identified distinct classes of up-regulated genes during this process. Xenopus foregut endoderm explants cultured from Stages 15 to 23 either intact with mesoderm or as endoderm alone. Total RNA was isolated from the endoderm of these two culture conditions in quadruplicate and were subjected to Affymetrix microarray analysis.
Project description:Underdeveloped lungs are the primary cause of death in premature infants, however, little is known about stem and progenitor cell maintenance during human lung development. In this study, we have identified that FGF7, Retinoic Acid and CHIR-99021, a small molecule that inhibits GSK3 to activate Wnt signaling, support in vitro maintenance of primary human fetal lung bud tip progenitor cells in a progenitor state. Furthermore, these factors are sufficient to derive a population of human bud tip-like progenitor cells in 3D organoid structures from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC). Functional studies showed that hPSC-derived bud tip progenitor organoids do not contain any mesenchymal cell types, maintain multilineage potential in vitro and are able to engraft into the airways of injured mice and respond to systemic factors. We performed RNA-sequencing to assess the degree of similarity in global gene expression profiles between the full human fetal lung (59-127 days gestation), isolated human fetal bud tip progenitors, organoids grown from primary fetal bud tip progenitors, and hPSC-derived bud tip organoids. Results showed that hPSC-derived organoids have molecular profiles similar to organoids generated from primary human fetal lung tissue. Gene expression differences between hPSC-derived bud tip organoids and fetal progenitor organoids may be related to the presence of contaminating mesenchymal cells in primary cultures. hPSC-derived bud tip organoids are generated from a well-defined human cell sources, offering a distinct advantage over rare primary tissue as a means to study human specific lung development, homeostasis and disease.<br>Sample Nomenclature - Description<br> -------------------------------------------------------------------------<br> Peripheral fetal lung the distal/peripheral portion of the fetal lung (i.e., distal 0.5 cm) was excised from the rest of the lung using a scalpel. This includes all components of the lung (e.g., epithelial, mesenchymal, vascular). <br>Isolated fetal bud tip the bud peripheral portion of the fetal lung was excised with a scalpel and subjected to enzymatic digestion and microdissection. The epithelium was dissected and separated from the mesenchyme, but a small amount of associated mesenchyme likely remained. <br>Fetal progenitor organoid 3D organoid structures that arose from culturing isolated fetal epithelial bud tips. <br>Foregut spheroid 3D foregut endoderm structure as described in Dye et al. (2015). Gives rise to patterned lung organoid (PLO) when grown in 3F medium. <br> Patterned lung organoid (PLO) lung organoids that were generated by differentiating hPSCs, as described throughout the manuscript. <br> Bud tip organoid organoids derived from PLOs, enriched for SOX2/SOX9 co-expressing cells, and grown/passaged in 3F medium.
Project description:Ezh2 epigenetically suppresses developmentally-regulated genes. Ezh2 is highly expressed during development, including in the lung. We knocked out Ezh2 in the developing lung epithelium using a Shh-cre driver which is active in foregut endoderm prior to lung morphogenesis. Many developmentally regulated genes became derepressed in the mutant lungs, leading to defects in lung development. Microarray analysis of genes upregulated in Ezh2 epithelial knock-out mouse lungs compared to Shh-cre controls.
Project description:ChIP-seq is combined with RNA-seq analysis to identify the TBX3 and HAND2 target genes during mouse limb bud development. This analysis identifies the DEGs and direct transcriptional targets of HAND2 and TBX3 during the early determinative period critical to establishment of limb axis polarity and the SHH signaling center in the posterior limb bud mesenchyme. In particular, bioinformatics analysis identifies the target gene networks that are co-regulated by both TBX3 and HAND2 transcription factors in the limb bud mesenchyme. A significant fraction of the target genes identified are required for normal limb bud development and their spatio-temporal expression patterns are changed in mutant limb buds at early stages. This project was supported by SNSF Grant 310030_184734 to Rolf Zeller (project partner: Aimée Zuniga).
Project description:ChIP-seq is combined with RNA-seq analysis to identify the TBX3 and HAND2 target genes during mouse limb bud development. This analysis identifies the DEGs and direct transcriptional targets of HAND2 and TBX3 during the early determinative period critical to establishment of limb axis polarity and the SHH signaling center in the posterior limb bud mesenchyme. In particular, bioinformatics analysis identifies the target gene networks that are co-regulated by both TBX3 and HAND2 transcription factors in the limb bud mesenchyme. A significant fraction of the target genes identified are required for normal limb bud development and their spatio-temporal expression patterns are changed in mutant limb buds at early stages. This project was supported by SNSF Grant 310030_184734 to Rolf Zeller (project partner: Aimée Zuniga).
Project description:The thyroid and lungs originate as neighboring bud shaped outgrowths from the midline of the embryonic foregut. When and how organ specific programs regulate development into structures of distinct shapes, positions and functions is not known. To characterize, at least in part, the genetic basis of these events, we have employed laser capture microdissection and microarray analysis to define gene expression in the mouse thyroid and lung primordia at E10.5. By comparing the transcriptome of each bud to that of the whole embryo as well as to each other, we broadly describe the genes that are preferentially expressed in each developing organ as well as those with an enriched expression common to both.
Project description:How modification of gene expression generates novel traits is key to understanding the evolutionary process. Here we investigated the genetic basis for the origin of the piscine gas bladder from lungs of ancestral bony vertebrates. Distinguishing these homologous organs is the direction of budding from the foregut during development; lungs bud ventrally and the gas bladder buds dorsally. We investigated whether this morphological inversion is associated with the molecular inversion of conserved genes regulating lung and gas bladder development. Using laser-capture microdissection and RNA-seq, we assayed transcript abundance and compared expression patterns between dorsal and ventral foregut tissues at three developmental stages spanning gasbladder development. Our focal taxon, bowfin (Amia calva), representing the sistergroup to teleosts, is an early diverging ray-finned fish with a gas bladder. We discovered a number of genes with unknown function during lung development that are differentially expressed during gas bladder development and annotated to functions relevant for organ budding. We also identified several known lung-regulatory genes that exhibit inverted dorsoventral expression during gasbladder development relative to lung development. In particular, we found Tbx5 is strongly expressed in the dorsal mesoderm surrounding the gas bladder during bowfin development, and several interacting genes are co-expressed dorsally with Tbx5. In contrast, in mouse and bichir (Polypterus senegalus), the only ray-finned fish that have lungs, Tbx5 is expressed in the ventral lung mesoderm during lung development. Our data demonstrating dorsoventral inversion of conserved genes suggest that these genes may have contributed to the evolutionary transition between ventral lungs and a dorsal gas bladder in ray-finned fishes.