Project description:PURPOSE: To provide a detailed gene expression profile of the normal postnatal mouse cornea. METHODS: Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was performed on postnatal day (PN)9 and adult mouse (6 week) total corneas. The expression of selected genes was analyzed by in situ hybridization. RESULTS: A total of 64,272 PN9 and 62,206 adult tags were sequenced. Mouse corneal transcriptomes are composed of at least 19,544 and 18,509 unique mRNAs, respectively. One third of the unique tags were expressed at both stages, whereas a third was identified exclusively in PN9 or adult corneas. Three hundred thirty-four PN9 and 339 adult tags were enriched more than fivefold over other published nonocular libraries. Abundant transcripts were associated with metabolic functions, redox activities, and barrier integrity. Three members of the Ly-6/uPAR family whose functions are unknown in the cornea constitute more than 1% of the total mRNA. Aquaporin 5, epithelial membrane protein and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) omega-1, and GST alpha-4 mRNAs were preferentially expressed in distinct corneal epithelial layers, providing new markers for stratification. More than 200 tags were differentially expressed, of which 25 mediate transcription. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to providing a detailed profile of expressed genes in the PN9 and mature mouse cornea, the present SAGE data demonstrate dynamic changes in gene expression after eye opening and provide new probes for exploring corneal epithelial cell stratification, development, and function and for exploring the intricate relationship between programmed and environmentally induced gene expression in the cornea. Keywords: other
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:We describe the proteomic composition of the extracellular environment of fetal and adult hematopoietic progenitors by data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry analysis.
Project description:Adult and fetal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) display a glycolytic phenotype, which is required for maintenance of stemness; however, whether mitochondrial respiration is required to maintain HSC function is not known. Here we report that loss of the mitochondrial complex III subunit Rieske iron sulfur protein (RISP) in fetal mouse HSCs allows them to proliferate but impairs their differentiation, resulting in anemia and prenatal death. RISP null fetal HSCs displayed impaired respiration resulting in a decreased NAD+/NADH ratio. RISP null fetal HSCs and progenitors exhibited an increase in both DNA and histone methylation concomitant with increases in 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG), a metabolite known to inhibit DNA and histone demethylases. RISP inactivation in adult HSCs also impaired respiration resulting in loss of quiescence resulting in severe pancytopenia and lethality. Thus, respiration is dispensable for adult or fetal HSC proliferation, but essential for fetal HSC differentiation and maintenance of adult HSC quiescence.