Project description:To evaluate the effect of IGF2BPs on mRNA stability and gene expression output, we conducted RNA-seq in individual IGF2BP knockdown and control HepG2 cells with or without actinomycin D treatment. Our RNA-seq and RNA stability profiling revealed that IGF2BPs were involved in RNA stability regulation and contributed to the stabilization of the transcriptome.
Project description:Regulatory CD4 T cells (Treg) confer non-overlapping functions in intestinal immune tolerance, tissue maintenance, repair, and regeneration. Cytokines and T cell receptor (TCR) signals, in combination with environmental cues, direct Treg proliferation and differentiation. However, how intestinal antigens shape intestinal Treg populations, their specialization and stability remain unknown. Here we show that only Treg bearing specific TCRs expand in the colon, resulting in highly oligoclonal Treg populations. Treg TCR repertoires are private, but crucially, when the same repertoire of polyclonal Treg was transferred into different recipients, the same clones expanded in each recipient, suggesting that cognate TCR-antigen interactions drive colonic Treg accumulation. Expanded Treg clones were correlated with Treg stability and individual transcriptional states that were maintained in different recipients irrespective of the presence or absence of intestinal inflammation. Our data suggest a role for antigen recognition in the selection and functional specialization of intestinal Treg. We speculate that the therapeutic use of Treg must take into account TCR context-mediated properties to optimise Treg stability and function in vivo.
Project description:The numerous neurons and glia that form the brain originate from tightly controlled growth and division of neural stem cells, regulated systemically by known extrinsic signals. However, the intrinsic mechanisms that control the characteristic proliferation rates of individual neural stem cells are unknown. Here, we show that the size and division rates of Drosophila neural stem cells (neuroblasts) are controlled by the highly conserved RNA binding protein Imp (IGF2BP), via one of its top binding targets in the brain, myc mRNA. We show that Imp stabilises myc mRNA leading to increased Myc protein levels, larger neuroblasts, and faster division rates. Declining Imp levels throughout development limit myc mRNA stability to restrain neuroblast growth and division, while heterogeneous Imp expression correlates with myc mRNA stability between individual neuroblasts in the brain. We propose that Imp-dependent regulation of myc mRNA stability fine-tunes individual neural stem cell proliferation rates.