Project description:Although histone-modifying enzymes are assumed to function in a manner dependent on their enzymatic activities, this assumption remains untested for many factors. Here we show the Tip60 (Kat5) lysine acetyltransferase (KAT), which is essential for embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and pre-implantation development, performs these functions independently of its KAT activity. Unlike ESCs depleted of Tip60, KAT–deficient ESCs exhibited minimal alterations in gene expression, chromatin accessibility at Tip60 binding sites, and self-renewal, thus demonstrating a critical KAT–independent role of Tip60 in ESC maintenance. In contrast, KAT–deficient ESCs exhibited impaired differentiation into mesoderm and endoderm, demonstrating a second, KAT–dependent function in differentiation. Consistent with this phenotype, KAT–deficient mouse embryos exhibited post-implantation developmental defects. These findings establish separable KAT–dependent and KAT–independent functions of Tip60 in ESCs and during embryonic development, raising the possibility of undiscovered catalysis-independent functions of additional KATs.
Project description:Embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and differentiation are governed by a broad-ranging regulatory network. Although the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms involved have been investigated extensively, post-transcriptional regulation is still poorly understood. Here we describe a critical role of the THO complex in ESC self-renewal and differentiation. We show that THO preferentially interacts with pluripotency gene transcripts through Thoc5, and is required for self-renewal at least in part by regulating their export and expression. During differentiation, THO loses its interaction with those transcripts due to reduced Thoc5 expression, leading to decreased expression of pluripotency proteins that facilitates exit from self-renewal. THO is also important for the establishment of pluripotency, as its depletion inhibits somatic cell reprogramming and blastocyst development. Together, our data indicate that THO regulates pluripotency gene mRNA export to control ESC self-renewal and differentiation, and therefore uncover a role for this aspect of post-transcriptional regulation in stem cell fate specification. mouse J1 cells were transfected with non-targeting (NT), Thoc2, and Thoc5 siRNAs. Total RNA was isolated 96 hours after transfection.
Project description:Embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and differentiation is governed by a comprehensive regulatory network. Although the transcriptional regulation has been extensively investigated, post-transcriptional mechanisms controlling the ESC state are poorly understood. Here we describe a critical role of the THO complex in ESC self-renewal and differentiation. We show that THO preferentially interacts with pluripotency gene transcripts through Thoc5, and is required for self-renewal by regulating their export and expression. During differentiation, THO loses its interaction with those transcripts due to reduced Thoc5 expression, which leads to decreased expression of pluripotency proteins and facilitates differentiation. Finally, THO is also important for the establishment of pluripotency, as its depletion inhibits somatic cell reprogramming and blastocyst development. Together, our data indicates that THO regulates pluripotency gene mRNA export to control ESC self-renewal and differentiation, and uncovers a novel mechanism of post-transcriptional regulation in stem cell fate specification. RNA IP was conducted by use of antibody against Thoc2, the precipitated RNA was used to generate library using illumina Kit, and subsequently sequenced by miSeq
Project description:Embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and differentiation is governed by a comprehensive regulatory network. Although the transcriptional regulation has been extensively investigated, post-transcriptional mechanisms controlling the ESC state are poorly understood. Here we describe a critical role of the THO complex in ESC self-renewal and differentiation. We show that THO preferentially interacts with pluripotency gene transcripts through Thoc5, and is required for self-renewal by regulating their export and expression. During differentiation, THO loses its interaction with those transcripts due to reduced Thoc5 expression, which leads to decreased expression of pluripotency proteins and facilitates differentiation. Finally, THO is also important for the establishment of pluripotency, as its depletion inhibits somatic cell reprogramming and blastocyst development. Together, our data indicates that THO regulates pluripotency gene mRNA export to control ESC self-renewal and differentiation, and uncovers a novel mechanism of post-transcriptional regulation in stem cell fate specification.
Project description:Embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and differentiation are governed by a broad-ranging regulatory network. Although the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms involved have been investigated extensively, post-transcriptional regulation is still poorly understood. Here we describe a critical role of the THO complex in ESC self-renewal and differentiation. We show that THO preferentially interacts with pluripotency gene transcripts through Thoc5, and is required for self-renewal at least in part by regulating their export and expression. During differentiation, THO loses its interaction with those transcripts due to reduced Thoc5 expression, leading to decreased expression of pluripotency proteins that facilitates exit from self-renewal. THO is also important for the establishment of pluripotency, as its depletion inhibits somatic cell reprogramming and blastocyst development. Together, our data indicate that THO regulates pluripotency gene mRNA export to control ESC self-renewal and differentiation, and therefore uncover a role for this aspect of post-transcriptional regulation in stem cell fate specification.
Project description:Recent studies have shown that the RNA binding protein Musashi 2 (Msi2) plays prominent roles during development and leukemia. Additionally, in embryonic stem cells (ESC) undergoing the early stages of differentiation, Msi2 has been shown to associate with Sox2, which is required for the self-renewal of ESC. These findings led us to examine the effects of Msi2 on the behavior of ESC. Using an shRNA sequence that targets Msi2 and a scrambled shRNA sequence, we determined that knockdown of Msi2 disrupts the self-renewal of ESC and promotes their differentiation. Collectively, our findings argue that Msi2 is required to support the self-renewal and pluripotency of ESC. We used microarrays to better understand global changes in ESC gene expression following the knockdown of the RNA-binding protein Msi2 as compared to control ESC expressing a scrambled shRNA.
Project description:Background Tip60 (KAT5) is the histone acetyltransferase (HAT) of the mammalian Tip60/NuA4 complex. While Tip60 is important for early mouse development and mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) pluripotency, the function of Tip60 as reflected in a genome-wide context is not yet well understood. Results Gel filtration of nuclear mESCs extracts indicate incorporation of Tip60 into large molecular complexes and exclude the existence of large quantities of âfreeâ Tip60 within the nuclei of ESCs. Thus, monitoring of Tip60 binding to the genome should reflect the behaviour of Tip60-containing complexes. The genome-wide mapping of Tip60 binding in mESCs by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) coupled with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) shows that the Tip60 complex is present at promoter regions of predominantly active genes that are bound by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and contain the H3K4me3 histone mark. The coactivator HAT complexes, Tip60- and Mof (KAT8)-containing (NSL and MSL), show a global overlap at promoters, whereas distinct binding profiles at enhancers suggest different regulatory functions of each essential HAT complex. Interestingly, Tip60 enrichment peaks at about 200 bp downstream of the transcription start sites suggesting a function for the Tip60 complexes in addition to histone acetylation. The comparison of genome-wide binding profiles of Tip60 and c-Myc, a somatic cell reprogramming factor that binds predominantly to active genes in mESCs, demonstrate that Tip60 and c-Myc co-bind at 50â60 % of their binding sites. We also show that the Tip60 complex binds to a subset of bivalent developmental genes and defines a set of mESC-specific enhancer as well as super-enhancer regions. Conclusions Our study suggests that the Tip60 complex functions as a global transcriptional co-activator at most active Pol II promoters, co-regulates the ESC-specific c-Myc network, important for ESC self-renewal and cell metabolism and acts at a subset of active distal regulatory elements, or super enhancers, in mESCs. Genome- wide binding of Tip60 co-activator complexes
Project description:Proper regulation of chromatin structure is necessary for the maintenance of cell type-specific gene expression patterns. The embryonic stem cell (ESC) expression pattern governs self-renewal and pluripotency. Here, we present an RNAi screen in mouse ESCs of 1008 loci encoding chromatin proteins. We identified 68 proteins that exhibit diverse phenotypes upon knockdown (KD), including seven subunits of the Tip60-p400 complex. Phenotypic analyses revealed that Tip60-p400 is necessary to maintain characteristic features of ESCs. We show that p400 localization to the promoters of both silent and active genes is dependent upon histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3). Furthermore, the Tip60-p400 KD gene expression profile is enriched for developmental regulators and significantly overlaps with that of the transcription factor Nanog. Depletion of Nanog reduces p400 binding to target promoters without affecting H3K4me3 levels. Together, these data indicate that Tip60-p400 integrates signals from Nanog and H3K4me3 to regulate gene expression in ESCs. Keywords: ChIP-chip
Project description:Proper regulation of chromatin structure is necessary for the maintenance of cell type-specific gene expression patterns. The embryonic stem cell (ESC) expression pattern governs self-renewal and pluripotency. Here, we present an RNAi screen in mouse ESCs of 1008 loci encoding chromatin proteins. We identified 68 proteins that exhibit diverse phenotypes upon knockdown (KD), including seven subunits of the Tip60-p400 complex. Phenotypic analyses revealed that Tip60-p400 is necessary to maintain characteristic features of ESCs. We show that p400 localization to the promoters of both silent and active genes is dependent upon histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3). Furthermore, the Tip60-p400 KD gene expression profile is enriched for developmental regulators and significantly overlaps with that of the transcription factor Nanog. Depletion of Nanog reduces p400 binding to target promoters without affecting H3K4me3 levels. Together, these data indicate that Tip60-p400 integrates signals from Nanog and H3K4me3 to regulate gene expression in ESCs. Keywords: knockdown-gene expression profiling
Project description:Histone acetylation and the acetyl-lysine reader Brd4 have recently been implicated in embryonic stem cell (ESC) proliferation and self-renewal. We found that naïve pluripotent ESCs exhibit increased incorporation of glucose-derived carbons onto acetylated histones and elevations in H3K9ac and Brd4 recruitment at pluripotency gene promoters. Surprisingly, both H3K9 acetyltransferases, GCN5 and PCAF, and Brd4 recruitment were dispensable for proliferation, self-renewal and pluripotency of naïve ESCs. Naïve ESCs maintain gene expression by stabilizing Mediator at core pluripotency genes in a Brd4-independent manner. Brd4-independent proliferation could also be achieved in metastable ESCs by overexpression of pluripotency transcription factors. Under all conditions, self-renewal required the DNA methylcytosine oxidases Tet1 and Tet2. These data reveal that there is minimal dependence on Brd4 for self-renewal of naïve ESCs. Instead, the relative levels of DNA methylation and transcription factor abundance determine the requirement for bromodomain recognition of histone acetylation to the maintenance of stem cell identity.