Project description:Embryonic (ES) and epiblast (EpiSC) stem cells are pluripotent but committed to an embryonic lineage fate. Conversely, trophoblast (TS) a nd extraembryonic endoderm (XEN) stem cells contribute predominantly to tissues of the placenta and yolk sac, respectively. Here we show that each of these four stem cell types is defined by a unique DNA methylation profile. Despite their distinct developmental origin, TS and XEN cells share key epigenomic hallmarks, chiefly characterized by robust DNA methylation of embryo-specific developmental regulators, as well as a subordinate role of 5-hydroxymethylation. We also observe a substantial methylation reinforcement of pre-existing epigenetic repressive marks that specifically occurs in extraembryonic stem cells compared to in vivo tissue, presumably due to continued high Dnmt3b expression levels. These differences establish a major epigenetic barrier between the embryonic and extraembryonic stem cell types. In addition, epigenetic lineage boundaries also separate the two extraembryonic stem cell types by mutual repression of key lineage-specific transcription factors. Thus, global DNA methylation patterns are a defining feature of each stem cell type that underpin lineage commitment and differentiative potency of early embryo-derived stem cells. Our detailed methylation profiles identify a cohort of developmentally regulated sequence elements, such as orphan CpG islands, that will be most valuable to uncover novel transcriptional regulators and pivotal M-^QM-^QgatekeeperM-^RM-^R genes in pluripotency and lineage differentiation.
Project description:DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that specifies the basic state of pluripotent stem cells and regulates the developmental transition from stem cells to various cell types. In flowering plants, the shoot apical meristem (SAM) contains a pluripotent stem cell population which generates the aerial part of plants including the germ cells. Under appropriate conditions, the SAM undergoes a developmental transition from a leaf-forming vegetative SAM to an inflorescence- and flower-forming reproductive SAM. While SAM characteristics are largely altered in this transition, the complete picture of DNA methylation remains elusive. Here, by analyzing whole-genome DNA methylation of isolated rice SAMs in the vegetative and reproductive stages, we found that methylation at CHH sites is kept high, particularly at transposable elements (TEs), in the vegetative SAM relative to the differentiated leaf, and increases in the reproductive SAM via the RNA-dependent DNA methylation pathway. We also found that half of the TEs that were highly methylated in gametes had already undergone CHH hypermethylation in the SAM. Our results indicate that changes in DNA methylation begin in the SAM long before germ cell differentiation to protect the genome from harmful TEs.
Project description:The pluripotent state of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is produced by active transcription of cell identity genes and repression of genes encoding lineage-specifying developmental regulators. Here we use large ESC cohesin ChIA-PET datasets and other genomic data to identify the local chromosomal structures at both active and repressed genes across the genome. The results show that super-enhancer driven cell identity genes generally occur within large loops that are connected through CTCF-CTCF interaction sites occupied by cohesin. Smc1 ChIA-PET data from wild type murine embryonic stem cells V6.5 were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina Hi-Seq 2000.
Project description:The pluripotent state of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is produced by active transcription of cell identity genes and repression of genes encoding lineage-specifying developmental regulators. Here we use large ESC cohesin ChIA-PET datasets and other genomic data to identify the local chromosomal structures at both active and repressed genes across the genome. The results show that super-enhancer driven cell identity genes generally occur within large loops that are connected through CTCF-CTCF interaction sites occupied by cohesin. H3K27me3 ChIP-seq data from wild type murine embryonic stem cells V6.5 were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina Hi-Seq 2000.