Project description:Somatic cells can be reverted back to a pluripotent state by nuclear transfer, cell fusion, and defined factors, representing three distinct approaches to reprogram cell fate. Unlike cell fusion, reprogramming by nuclear transfer or defined factors gives rise to cells that contribute to the development of a live animal in mouse, thus making a quasi-direct comparison possible Combining optimized culture conditions and modified reprogramming factors, we report here that mouse fibroblasts can be reprogrammed by defined factors into cells capable of contributing to chimera formation and germline transmission in as short as 96 hours, comparable to the time required for the formation of inner cell mass in cloned embryos by nuclear transfer. Gene expression profiling analysis shows that this accelerated reprogramming process in fact corresponds well with previously reported longer ones with similar molecular signatures. Additionally we find a new set of genes activated as the reprogramming cells acquire chimera competency. In a broader sense, this platform may be adopted for applications such as high throughput screenings for reprogramming mediators both chemical and biological, as well as omics-related mechanistic investigations.
Project description:Cellular binary fate decisions require the progeny to silence genes associated with the alternative fate. The major subsets of alpha:beta T cells have been extensively studied as a model system for fate decisions. While the transcription factor RUNX3 is required for the initiation of Cd4 silencing in CD8 T cell progenitors, it is not required to maintain the silencing of Cd4 and other helper T lineage genes. The other runt domain containing protein, RUNX1, silences Cd4 in an earlier T cell progenitor, but this silencing is reversed whereas the gene silencing after RUNX3 expression is not reverse. Therefore, we hypothesized that RUNX3 and not RUNX1 recruits other factors that maintains the silencing of helper T lineage genes in CD8 T cells. To this end, we performed a proteomics screen of RUNX1 and RUNX3 to determine candidate silencing factors.
Project description:Although nuclear transfer allows the reprogramming of somatic cells to totipotency, little is known concerning the kinetics by which it takes place or the minimum requirements for its success. Here, we demonstrate that reprogramming can be achieved within a few hours and a single cell-cycle as long as two key constraints on reprogramming are satisfied. First, the recipient cell chromosomes must be removed during mitosis. Second, the nuclear envelope of the donor cell must be broken down and its chromosomes condensed, allowing an embryonic nucleus to be constructed around the incoming chromosomes. If these requirements are not met, then reprogramming fails and embryonic development arrests. These results point to a central role for processes intimately linked to cell division in mediating efficient transitions between transcriptional programs. tail tip skin fibroblasts were transferred into mitotic mouse zygotes, blastomeres or oocytes.