Project description:DNMT3a is a de novo DNA methyltransferase expressed robustly after T cell activation that regulates plasticity of CD4+ T cell cytokine expression. Here we show that DNMT3a is critical for directing early CD8+ T cell effector and memory fate decisions. While effector function of DNMT3a knockout T cells is normal, they develop more memory precursor and fewer terminal effector cells in a T cell intrinsic manner compared to wild-type animals. Rather than increasing plasticity of differentiated effector CD8+ T cells, loss of DNMT3a biases differentiation of early effector cells into memory precursor cells. This is attributed in part to ineffective repression of Tcf1 expression in knockout T cells, as DNMT3a localizes to the Tcf7 promoter and catalyzes its de novo methylation in early effector WT CD8+ T cells. This data identifies DNMT3a as a crucial regulator of CD8+ early effector cell differentiation and effector versus memory fate decisions. Examination of global genomic DNA methylation by MBD-seq in naïve CD8 T cells and CD8 T cells 8 days post Vaccinia-Ova infection, comparing OT1 TCR-Tg CD8 T cells isolated from WT and T cell conditional DNMT3a KO mice.
Project description:PGCs undergo two distinct stages of demethylation before reaching a hypomethylated ground state at E13.5. Stage 1 occurs between E7.25- E9.5 in which PGCs experience a global loss of cytosine methylation. However, discreet loci escape this global loss of methylation and between E10.5-E13.5, stage 2 of demethylation takes place. In this stage these loci are targeted by Tet1 and Tet2 leading to the loss of the remaining methylation and resulting in the epigenetic ground state. Our data shows that Dnmt1 is responsible for maintaining the methylation of loci that escape stage 1 demethylation, and that it functions in a UHRF1 independent manner. Our data further demonstrates that when these loci lose methylation prior to stage 2 it results in early activation of the meiotic program, which leads to precocious differentiation of the germ line resulting in a decreased pool of PGCs in the embryo and subsequent infertility in adult mice.
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:In response to acute infection CD8 T cells differentiate into effector cells capable of clearing the antigen. While the transcriptional and functional changes have previously been studied little is known of the epigenetic modifications that accompany this differentiation process. To gain insights into CD8 T cell effector differentiation and the role of epigenetics, we mapped DNA methylation by MeDIP-seq in naive CD8 T cells and day 8 effector CD8 T cells that are induced following an acute infection. We identified hundreds of thousands of differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Promoter DNA methylation inversely correlated with gene expression and DMRs were enriched for functional transcription factor binding sites. These data indicated that DNA methylation is dynamic during CD8 T cell differentiation and provide a map of possible regulatory regions important in this process. Examination of DNA methylation during CD8 T cell differentiation from naïve to day 8 effectors following acute infection