Project description:Somatic cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotency using different methods. In comparison to pluripotent cells obtained through somatic nuclear transfer, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) exhibit a higher number of epigenetic errors. Furthermore, most of these abnormalities have been described to be intrinsic to the iPSC technology. Here we investigate whether the aberrant epigenetic patterns detected in iPSCs are specific to transcription factor-mediated reprogramming. We used germline stem cells (GSCs), which are the only adult cell type that can be converted into pluripotent cells (gPSCs) under specific culture conditions, and compared GSC-derived iPSCs and gPSCs at the transcriptomic, epigenetic and functional level. Our results show that both reprogramming methods generate indistinguishable states of pluripotency. GSC-derived iPSCs and gPSCs retained similar levels of donor cell-type memory and exhibited comparable numbers of reprogramming errors. Therefore, our study demonstrates that the epigenetic memory detected in iPSCs is not intrinsic to transcription-factor mediated reprogramming. Total RNA from 12 different in vitro mouse cell lines, 2 technical replicates per sample: germline stem cells (GSCs, 2 independent cell lines), GSC-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs, 4 independent cell lines), germline-derived pluripotent stem cells (gPSCs, 4 independent cell lines), embryonic stem cells (ESCs), fibroblast-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (Fib-iPSCs)
Project description:Somatic cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotency using different methods. In comparison to pluripotent cells obtained through somatic nuclear transfer, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) exhibit a higher number of epigenetic errors. Furthermore, most of these abnormalities have been described to be intrinsic to the iPSC technology. Here we investigate whether the aberrant epigenetic patterns detected in iPSCs are specific to transcription factor-mediated reprogramming. We used germline stem cells (GSCs), which are the only adult cell type that can be converted into pluripotent cells (gPSCs) under specific culture conditions, and compared GSC-derived iPSCs and gPSCs at the transcriptomic, epigenetic and functional level. Our results show that both reprogramming methods generate indistinguishable states of pluripotency. GSC-derived iPSCs and gPSCs retained similar levels of donor cell-type memory and exhibited comparable numbers of reprogramming errors. Therefore, our study demonstrates that the epigenetic memory detected in iPSCs is not intrinsic to transcription factor-mediated reprogramming.
Project description:Somatic cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotency using different methods. In comparison to pluripotent cells obtained through somatic nuclear transfer, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) exhibit a higher number of epigenetic errors. Furthermore, most of these abnormalities have been described to be intrinsic to the iPSC technology. Here we investigate whether the aberrant epigenetic patterns detected in iPSCs are specific to transcription factor-mediated reprogramming. We used germline stem cells (GSCs), which are the only adult cell type that can be converted into pluripotent cells (gPSCs) under specific culture conditions, and compared GSC-derived iPSCs and gPSCs at the transcriptomic, epigenetic and functional level. Our results show that both reprogramming methods generate indistinguishable states of pluripotency. GSC-derived iPSCs and gPSCs retained similar levels of donor cell-type memory and exhibited comparable numbers of reprogramming errors. Therefore, our study demonstrates that the epigenetic memory detected in iPSCs is not intrinsic to transcription-factor mediated reprogramming.
Project description:Reprogramming of ES cells towards the trophoblast lineage, and specifally into self-renewing TS cells, can seemingly be achieved by manipulation of transcription factors such as Cdx2 and Oct4, or modulation of signalling cascades, notably Ras signalling. Here we analyze the arising cells from such treatment in detail for the efficiency and completeness of the reprogramming process. We find that the reprogrammed cells retain an epigenetic and transcriptional memory of their ES cell origin and are not equal to bona fide trophectoderm-derived TS cells. DNA methylation analysis in conventional ES and TS cells and various ES-to-TS reprogramming models
Project description:<p>The efficacy of the adaptive immune response declines dramatically with age, but the cell-intrinsic mechanisms driving the changes characteristic of immune aging in humans remain poorly understood. One hallmark of immune aging is the loss of self-renewing naive cells and the accumulation of differentiated but dysfunctional cells within the CD8 T cell compartment. Using ATAC-seq, we first inferred the transcription factor binding activities that maintain the naive and central and effector memory CD8 T cell states in young adults. Integrating our results with RNA-seq, we determined that BATF, ETS1, Eomes, and Sp1 govern transcription networks associated with specific CD8 T cell subset properties, including activation and proliferative potential. Extending our analysis to aged humans, we found that the differences between memory and naive CD8 T cells were largely preserved across age, but that naive and central memory cells from older individuals exhibited a shift toward a more differentiated pattern of chromatin openness. Additionally, aged naive cells displayed a loss in chromatin openness at gene promoters, a phenomenon that appears to be due largely to a loss in binding by NRF1, leading to a marked drop-off in the ability of the naive cell to initiate transcription of mitochondrial genes. Our findings identify BATF- and NRF1-driven gene regulation as targets for delaying CD8 T cell aging and restoring T cell function.</p>
Project description:Epigenetic changes are crucial for the generation of immunological memory. Failure to generate or maintain these changes will result in poor memory responses. Similarly, augmenting or stabilizing the correct epigenetic states offers a potential method of enhancing immune memory. Yet the transcription factors that regulate these processes are poorly defined, as are the target genes they control and they chromatin-modifying complexes they recruit. Using model pathogens and three different mouse models, we find that the widely expressed transcription factor Oct1 and its cofactor OCA-B are selectively required for the in vivo generation of functional CD4 memory. In vitro, both proteins are required to maintain a poised state at the Il2 target locus in resting but previously stimulated CD4 T cells, and to generate robust Il2 expression upon restimulation. Gene expression profiling indicates that OCA-B is also required for the robust re-expression of multiple other targets including Ifng and Il17a. ChIPseq identify multiple differentially expressed direct targets. We identify an underlying mechanism involving OCA-B recruitment of the histone lysine demethylase Jmjd1a to targets such as Il2 and Ifng. The findings pinpoint Oct1 and OCA-B as unanticipated mediators of CD4 T cell memory. Examination of transcription factor occupancy in CD4 T cells upon rest and restimulation.
Project description:The activation-induced cytidine deaminase enzyme (AID) is required in germinal center (GC) B cells for somatic hyper-mutation and class switch recombination at the immunoglobulin locus. In GC-B cells, AID is highly expressed, with inherent mutator activity that helps generate antibody diversity. However, AID may also regulate gene expression epigenetically, irrespective of mutator activity, by directly deaminating 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in concert with base excision repair glycosylases to exchange unmethylated cytosine. This pathway promotes gene demethylation, thereby removing epigenetic memory. For example, AID promotes active demethylation of the genome in primordial germ cells. However, the range and mechanism by which AID promotes pluripotency is not known. Different studies have suggested either a requirement or a lack of function for promoting pluripotency in somatic nuclei following fusion with embryonic stem cells (ESC). Here we tested directly whether AID regulates epigenetic memory, by comparing the relative ability of cells lacking AID to reprogram from a differentiated cell type to an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC). We show that loss of AID impacts two distinct steps of reprogramming: First, AID-null cells are transiently hyper-responsive to the reprogramming process. Second, although they initiate expression of pluripotency genes, they fail to stabilize the pluripotent state. The genome of AID-null cells remains hypermethylated in reprogramming cells, and hypermethylated genes associated with pluripotency fail to be stably up-regulated. MYC target genes are highly enriched in the set of genes hypermethylated and under-expressed in reprogramming cells lacking AID. Recent studies identified a distinctive late step of reprogramming associated with methylation status. AID appears to regulate this step to stabilize the pluripotent state, removing epigenetic memory to promote expression of secondary pluripotency network genes. Transcriptome sequencing of AID-null tail fibroblasts, wildtype tail fibroblasts, AID-null and wildtype tail fibroblasts reprogrammed for three weeks by ectopic expression of transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, KLf4 and cMyc. Methylation profiling by reduced representation bisulphite seuencing of AID-null tail fibroblasts, wildtype tail fibroblasts, AID-null and wildtype tail fibroblasts reprogrammed for three weeks and AID-null and wildtype clones after three weeks of reprogramming (Picked at two weeks)