Project description:In mice lacking the heme exporter, FLVCR, differentiation fails at the CFU-E/proerythroblast stage from excessive heme and reactive oxygen species. We show that Flvcr1-deleted CFU-E/proerythroblasts have low GATA1 mRNA and GATA1-target gene mRNAs along with increased ribosomal protein mRNAs as a direct result of increased heme. Thus heme increases ribosomal protein transcription when globin production needs to be increased, and when heme is excessive, GATA1 is reduced allowing for normal termination of erythroid differentiation. This demonstrates that heme and GATA1 are co-master regulators of erythroid differentiation.
Project description:In mice lacking the heme exporter, FLVCR, differentiation fails at the CFU-E/proerythroblast stage from excessive heme and reactive oxygen species. We show that Flvcr1-deleted CFU-E/proerythroblasts have low GATA1 mRNA and GATA1-target gene mRNAs along with increased ribosomal protein mRNAs as a direct result of increased heme. Thus heme increases ribosomal protein transcription when globin production needs to be increased, and when heme is excessive, GATA1 is reduced allowing for normal termination of erythroid differentiation. This demonstrates that heme and GATA1 are co-master regulators of erythroid differentiation.
Project description:Nuclear receptor binding SET domain protein 1 (NSD1) is recurrently mutated in human cancers including acute leukemia. We found that NSD1 knockdown altered erythroid clonogenic growth of human CD34+ hematopoietic cells. Ablation of Nsd1 in the hematopoietic system induced a transplantable erythroleukemia in mice. Despite abundant expression of the transcriptional master regulator GATA1, in vitro differentiation of Nsd1-/- erythroblasts was majorly impaired associated with reduced activation of GATA1-induced targets, while GATA1-repressed target genes were less affected. Retroviral expression of wildtype Nsd1, but not a catalytically-inactive Nsd1N1918Q SET-domain mutant induced terminal maturation of Nsd1-/- erythroblasts. Despite similar GATA1 levels, exogenous Nsd1 but not Nsd1N1918Q significantly increased GATA1 chromatin occupancy and target gene activation. Notably, Nsd1 expression reduced the association of GATA1 with the co-repressor SKI, and knockdown of SKI induced differentiation of Nsd1-/- erythroblasts. Collectively, we identified the NSD1 methyltransferase as a novel regulator of GATA1-controlled erythroid differentiation and leukemogenesis.
Project description:The Affymetrix Human Gene 2.0 ST array was used to measure differential expression of RNA isolated from normal and Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA) erythroid progenitors after ex vivo expansion of circulating, peripheral blood derived hematopoietic stem cells under erythroid growth conditions. The gene-level probe summaries reported in this series were computed using RMA as implemented in the Bioconductor package Oligo v1.36.1. Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA) is a congenital bone marrow failure syndrome characterized by erythroid aplasia, usually without perturbation of other hematopoietic lineages. Approximately 65% of DBA patients with autosomal dominant inheritance have heterozygous mutations or deletions in ribosomal protein (RP) genes while <1% of patients with X-linked inheritance have been identified with mutations in the transcription factor, GATA1. Erythroid cells from patients with DBA have not been well characterized and the mechanisms underlying the erythroid specific effects of either RP or GATA1 associated DBA remain unclear. We have developed an in vitro culture system to expand peripheral blood CD34+ progenitor cells from patients with DBA and differentiate them into erythroid cells. Cells from patients with RP or GATA1 mutations showed decreased proliferation and delayed erythroid differentiation compared to controls. RNA transcript analyses of erythroid cells from controls and patients with RP or GATA1 mutations showed distinctive differences, with upregulation of heme biosynthesis genes prominently in RP-mediated DBA and failure to upregulate components of the translational apparatus in GATA1-mediated DBA. Our data show that dysregulation of translational function is a common feature of DBA caused by both RP and GATA1 mutations.
Project description:KLF1 (EKLF) regulates a diverse suite of genes to direct erythroid cell differentiation from bi-potent progenitors. To determine the local cis-regulatory contexts and transcription factor networks in which KLF1 operates, we performed KLF1 ChIP-seq in the mouse. We found at least 945 sites in the genome of E14.5 fetal liver erythroid cells which are occupied by endogenous KLF1. Many of these recovered sites reside in erythroid gene promoters such as β-globin, but the majority are distant to any known gene. Our data suggests KLF1 directly regulates most aspects of terminal erythroid differentiation including production of α and β-globin protein chains, heme biosynthesis, co-ordination of proliferation and anti-apoptotic pathways, and construction of the red cell membrane and cytoskeleton by functioning primarily as a transcriptional activator. Additionally, we suggest new mechanisms for KLF1 co-operation with other transcription factors, in particular the erythroid transcription factor GATA1, to maintain homeostasis in the erythroid compartment. Examination of KLF1 occupancy in primary erythroid cells. KLF1-ChIP and input samples were run on AB SOLiD Systems 2.0 and 3.0. The genomic alignment files (*sorted.txt) and peak file (*bed) contain the combined System 2.0 and 3.0 data.