Project description:The purpose of this RNA-seq experiment was to identify Activin A target genes that were differentially expressed in wild type and Arkadia null mouse embryonic stem cells (ESC). We performed the RNA sequencing experiment in two different wt and Arkadia-/- ESC under conditions of signalling inhibition SB431542 (SB; T0) and signalling stimulation with Activin A for 3 and 6 hours (T3 and T6 respectively).
Project description:Overall goal: To elucidate fibroblast-specific role of TGFβ-Smad2/3 signaling in fibroblast activation and their differentiation to myofibroblasts. Purpose of analysis: To generate transcriptional profile of Smad2/3 and TGFβreceptors1/2-deficient fibroblasts in the context of pathological cardiac fibrosis.
Project description:We performed SMAD2/3 ChIP-seq analysis in MCF10A MII cells. To validate whether the changes in SMAD2/3 binding to the genome indeed resulted in changes in target gene expression, we performed RNA-seq transcriptome analysis after short and long periods of TGFβ stimulation (0, 1.5h and 16h) in MII cells. In addition, we revealed that JUNB is a critical AP1 component for SMAD2/3 binding after TGFβ stimulation. To assess the significance of JUNB for TGFβ-SMAD-target genes on a genome-wide scale, we also performed RNA-seq transcriptome analysis in JUNB-knock-downed MII cells.
Project description:The transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) related signaling is one of the most important signaling pathways regulating early developmental events. Smad2 and Smad3 are structurally similar and it is mostly considered that they are equally important in mediating TGFβ signals. Here, we show that Smad3 is an insensitive TGFβ transducer as compared with Smad2. Smad3 preferentially localizes within the nucleus and is thus sequestered from membrane signaling. The ability of Smad3 in oligomerization with Smad4 upon agonist stimulation is also impaired given its unique linker region. Smad2 mediated TGFβ signaling plays a crucial role in epiblast development and patterning of three germ layers. However, signaling unrelated nuclear localized Smad3 is dispensable for TGFβ signaling-mediated epiblast specification, but important for early neural development, an event blocked by TGFβ/Smad2 signaling. Both Smad2 and Smad3 bind to the conserved Smads binding element (SBE), but they show nonoverlapped target gene binding specificity. We conclude that Smad2 and Smad3 possess differential sensitivities in relaying TGFβ signaling and have distinct roles in regulating early developmental events.
Project description:Glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) fate is controlled by environmental cues, among which cytokines play a crucial role. The transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) family signaling pathways controls GSCs. On one hand, TGFβ promotes cell proliferation in GBM, it induces the expression of platelet-derived growth factor-B (PDGFB). Moreover, TGFβ, via its signaling mediators Smad2/3, induces the expression of the cytokine leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and Sox4, which in turn enhances the expression of the stem cell transcription factor Sox2; this increases the self-renewal capacity of the GSCs and their stemness characteristics, and enhances the GSC tumor-initiating potential. On the other hand, Bone morphogenic proteins (BMPs) are known to promote GSC differentiation towards the astrocytic phenotype. To further understand which genes are regulated by TGFβ and BMP7 in GSCs we performed a microarray in the Affymetrix HTA2 platform in three different glioblastoma cell line, U2987, and two patient-derived glioblastoma stem cells, U3031MG and U3034MG, in the presence or absence of 5 ng/ml of TGFβ or 30 ng/ml BMP7 for 24 h, three biological replicates per condition.
Project description:To further explore the role of these two factors in SMC reprogramming, we treated human aortic smooth muscle (HASMCs) in vitro with TGFβ and mapped binding of Smad2/3, which reflects TGFβ activity, and Pol2-Ser2p, which reflects transcriptional activity, by ChIP-seq analysis. Smad2/3 bound to numerous regulatory regions in the genome differentially regulating expression of numerous genes as demonstrate by alterations in Pol2-Serp2 binding profile and analysis of bulk RNA sequencing. Examination of the top 20 transcription factors identified by sequencing of Smad2/3 binding regulatory regions identified KLF4 gene as one of the most prominently regulated genes. Further analysis showed Smad2/3 binding to multiple KLF4 gene regulatory elements that increased following TGFβ treatment, indicating that KLF4 is a direct target of Smad2/3. At the same time, the amount of bound Pol2-Ser2p decreased, pointing to reduced transcriptional activity. In contrast, Smad2/3 did not bind to KLF2 or KLF5 regulatory elements, demonstrating that these genes are not directly regulated by TGFβ.
Project description:The aim of this experiment was to investigate the role of TGFβ signalling pathway in human pluripotency, through ChIP-seq analysis of its main downstream effector SMAD2/3 in naïve and primed human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs).
Project description:Control of neuronal precursor cell proliferation is essential for normal brain development, and deregulation of this fundamental developmental event contributes to brain diseases. Typically, neuronal precursor cell proliferation extends over long periods of time during brain development. However, how neuronal precursor proliferation is regulated in a temporally specific manner remains to be elucidated. Here, we report that conditional knockout of the transcriptional regulator SnoN in cerebellar granule neuron precursors robustly inhibits the proliferation of these cells and promotes their cell cycle exit at later stages of cerebellar development in the postnatal mouse brain. In laser capture microdissection followed by RNASeq, designed to profile gene expression specifically in the external granule layer (EGL) of the cerebellum, we find that SnoN promotes the expression of cell proliferation genes and concomitantly represses differentiation genes in granule neuron precursors in vivo. Remarkably, bioinformatics analyses reveal that SnoN-regulated genes contain binding sites for the transcription factors N-myc and Pax6, which promote the proliferation and differentiation of granule neuron precursors, respectively. Accordingly, we uncover novel physical interactions of SnoN with N-myc and Pax6 in cells. In behavior analyses, conditional knockout of SnoN impairs cerebellar-dependent learning in a delayed eye-blink conditioning paradigm, suggesting that SnoN-regulation of granule neuron precursor proliferation bears functional consequences at the organismal level. Our findings define a novel function and mechanism for the major transcriptional regulator SnoN in the control of granule neuron precursor proliferation in the mammalian brain.
Project description:Control of neuronal precursor cell proliferation is essential for normal brain development, and deregulation of this fundamental developmental event contributes to brain diseases. Typically, neuronal precursor cell proliferation extends over long periods of time during brain development. However, how neuronal precursor proliferation is regulated in a temporally specific manner remains to be elucidated. Here, we report that conditional knockout of the transcriptional regulator SnoN in cerebellar granule neuron precursors robustly inhibits the proliferation of these cells and promotes their cell cycle exit at later stages of cerebellar development in the postnatal mouse brain. In laser capture microdissection followed by RNASeq, designed to profile gene expression specifically in the external granule layer (EGL) of the cerebellum, we find that SnoN promotes the expression of cell proliferation genes and concomitantly represses differentiation genes in granule neuron precursors in vivo. Remarkably, bioinformatics analyses reveal that SnoN-regulated genes contain binding sites for the transcription factors N-myc and Pax6, which promote the proliferation and differentiation of granule neuron precursors, respectively. Accordingly, we uncover novel physical interactions of SnoN with N-myc and Pax6 in cells. In behavior analyses, conditional knockout of SnoN impairs cerebellar-dependent learning in a delayed eye-blink conditioning paradigm, suggesting that SnoN-regulation of granule neuron precursor proliferation bears functional consequences at the organismal level. Our findings define a novel function and mechanism for the major transcriptional regulator SnoN in the control of granule neuron precursor proliferation in the mammalian brain.