Project description:In this study, we defined a differentiation approach for guiding human pluripotent stem cells in to complex hair-bearing skin tissue, known as skin organoids. The primary goal of this single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis was to define the cellular composition of skin organoids, which we have shown using histology contain multiple embryonic cell lineages. The secondary goal was to determine whether skin organoids generated using different cell lines (WA25 hESCs and DSP-GFP hiPSCs) contain similar cell types.
Project description:In this study, we defined a differentiation approach for guiding human pluripotent stem cells in to complex hair-bearing skin tissue, known as skin organoids. The primary goal of this single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis was to define the cellular composition of skin organoids before, during, and after the process of hair folliculogenesis. The secondary goal was to determine whether skin organoids generated using different cell lines (WA25 hESCs and DSP-GFP hiPSCs) contain similar cell types and accurately reflect features of developing fetal skin tissue.
Project description:Hair follicles undergo recurrent cycling of controlled growth (anagen), regression (catagen), and relative quiescence (telogen) with a defined periodicity. Taking a genomics approach to study gene expression during synchronized mouse hair follicle cycling, we discovered that, in addition to circadian fluctuation, CLOCK-regulated genes are also modulated in phase with the hair growth cycle. During telogen and early anagen, circadian clock genes are prominently expressed in the secondary hair germ, which contains precursor cells for the growing follicle. Analysis of Clock and Bmal1 mutant mice reveals a delay in anagen progression, and the secondary hair germ cells show decreased levels of phosphorylated Rb and lack mitotic cells, suggesting that circadian clock genes regulate anagen progression via their effect on the cell cycle. Consistent with a block at the G1 phase of the cell cycle, we show a significant upregulation of p21 in Bmal1 mutant skin. While circadian clock mechanisms have been implicated in a variety of diurnal biological processes, our findings indicate that circadian clock genes may be utilized to modulate the progression of non-diurnal cyclic processes. To investigate the molecular control of hair follicle cycling, we profiled mRNA expression in mouse dorsal skin at multiple representative time points in the synchronized second postnatal hair growth cycle and in a depilation-induced hair growth cycle. For profiling of second synchronized and depilation-induced hair growth cycle, the same upper-mid region of dorsal skin was excised from C57BL/6 mice at representative postnatal days (P). The time points for second hair growth cycle are classified into different phases of the hair growth cycle based on established morphological guidelines as follow: early anagen (P23, P25), mid anagen (P27), late anagen (P29, P34), early catagen (P37, P39), mid catagen (P41), and telogen (P44). Depilation-induced hair growth cycle by applying wax/rosin mixture on the dorsal skin of seven-week old mice (all follicles in telogen) was performed on mice. The corresponding phases of the hair growth cycle at number of days following depilation (D) is as follow: early anagen (D3), mid anagen (D5), late anagen (D8, D12), and early catagen (D17). For each time point, multiple biological replicates were profiled, with each mouse dorsal skin separately hybridized to an Affymetrix array.
Project description:Genetic mutations on leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) have been associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease. The Gly2019Ser (G2019S) mutation on LRRK2 gene is a relatively common cause of familial Parkinson's disease in Caucasian population. In this study, we generated human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from LRRK2 (G2019S) bearing patient fibroblasts by cell reprogramming. We performed global gene expression profiling of LRRK2 (G2019S) heterozygous and homozygous patient iPSC lines, and the corresponding fibroblast lines they originated from. An age-matched wildtype human fibroblast line and H1 human embryonic stem cell (ESC) line were used as controls. Microarray gene expression profiling was done to: (1) Compare global gene expression differences between wildtype fibroblasts and fibroblasts from patients bearing homozygous and heterozygous LRRK2 (G2019S) mutation; (2) Compare global gene expression differences between wildtype iPSC and iPSC generated from LRRK2 (G2019S) homozygous and heterozygous patients; (3) Check that all iPSC generated from wildtype and patients fibroblasts are in fact similar to human pluripotent ESC.
Project description:Mammalian epidermis consists of three self-renewing compartments: the hair follicle, sebaceous gland and interfollicular epidermis. We generated knock-in alleles of murine Lgr6, a close relative to the Lgr5 stem cell gene. Lgr6 was expressed in the earliest embryonic hair placodes. In adult hair follicles, Lgr6+ cells resided in a previously uncharacterized region directly above the follicle bulge. They expressed none of the known bulge stem cell markers. Prenatal Lgr6+ cells established the hair follicle, sebaceous gland and interfollicular epidermis. Postnatally, Lgr6+ cells generated sebaceous gland and interfollicular epidermis, while contribution to hair lineages gradually diminished with age. Adult Lgr6+ cells executed long-term wound repair, including the formation of new hair follicles. We conclude that Lgr6 marks the most primitive epidermal stem cell. For the Lgr5 and Lgr6 stem cell comparison RNA was isolated from sorted GFPhi cell fractions of dorsal skin from Lgr5-EGFP-ires-CreERT2 mice and Lgr6-EGFP-ires-CreERT2, respectively (3 mice per group per sort).
Project description:Hair follicles undergo recurrent cycling of controlled growth (anagen), regression (catagen), and relative quiescence (telogen) with a defined periodicity. Taking a genomics approach to study gene expression during synchronized mouse hair follicle cycling, we discovered that, in addition to circadian fluctuation, CLOCK-regulated genes are also modulated in phase with the hair growth cycle. During telogen and early anagen, circadian clock genes are prominently expressed in the secondary hair germ, which contains precursor cells for the growing follicle. Analysis of Clock and Bmal1 mutant mice reveals a delay in anagen progression, and the secondary hair germ cells show decreased levels of phosphorylated Rb and lack mitotic cells, suggesting that circadian clock genes regulate anagen progression via their effect on the cell cycle. Consistent with a block at the G1 phase of the cell cycle, we show a significant upregulation of p21 in Bmal1 mutant skin. While circadian clock mechanisms have been implicated in a variety of diurnal biological processes, our findings indicate that circadian clock genes may be utilized to modulate the progression of non-diurnal cyclic processes. To gain molecular understanding of the the hair cycle delay in Bmal mutant mice, we profiled the dorsal skin of Bmal knockout (-/-) and their heterozygous (+/-) littermates at P22. At P22, the skin samples are comparable because all the samples are in telogen just prior to the hair cycle delay was observed. Histological sections were used to classify each sample into specific stage of the hair growth cycle based on established morphological guidelines. RNA from each mouse dorsal skin were separately hybridized to an Affymetrix Mouse Gene 1.0 ST array.
Project description:Fgf18 gene is strongly expressed in hair follicles of mouse dorsal skin during regressing (catagen) and resting (telogen) phases of hair cycle, but not in growth (anagen) phase. This study aims at identifying the function of Fgf18 in the regulation of hair cycle. To define target genes of Fgf18 during telogen phase of hair cycle, we generated mice in which Fgf18 gene is conditionally knocked out in keratin 5-positive epithelial cells (referred to as Fgf18 cKO below). We carried out microarray experiments with mouse back skin samples harboring telogen hair follicles obtained from three 42-d-old Fgf18 cKO male mice, or from three 42-d-old C57BL/6 male mice as control. Total RNA was isolated from each mouse and further purified to polyA RNA using oligo dT30 columns. The RNA samples were pooled for each group. Gene expression was analyzed by one-color analysis using duplicate arrays for each group.
Project description:Skin samples from back region and footpads were analyzed in 8-10 week old mice. For back skin, the hair was plucked in order to induce active growing phase(anagen). After 9 days, the mice were irradiated for 5Gy IR. Krt17 knock out, p53 knock out, and wild type mice were compared. Samples were taken at time 0 (control), 6h, and 24h post-irradiation. For footpad skin, the mice were irradiated for 40 Gy IR. Krt17 knock out and wild type mice were compared. Samples were taken at time 0 (control), 3 d, 6 d, 9 d post-irradiation.