Project description:The BAF complex modulates chromatin accessibility. Specific BAF configurations have functional consequences, and subunit switches are essential for cell differentiation. ARID1B and its paralog ARID1A encode for mutually exclusive BAF subunits. De novo ARID1B haploinsufficient mutations cause a neurodevelopmental disorder spectrum, including Coffin-Siris syndrome, which is characterized by neurological and craniofacial features. Here, we reprogrammed ARID1B+/- Coffin-Siris patient-derived skin fibroblasts into iPSCs, and modeled cranial neural crest cell (CNCC) formation. We discovered that ARID1B is active only during the first stage of this process, coinciding with neuroectoderm specification, where it is part of a lineage-specific BAF configuration (ARID1B-BAF), including SMARCA4, and nine additional subunits. ARID1B-BAF acts as a gate-keeper, ensuring exit from pluripotency and lineage commitment, by attenuating NANOG, SOX2 and the thousands of enhancers directly regulated by these two pluripotency factors at the iPSC stage. In iPSCs, these enhancers are maintained active by an ARID1A-containing BAF. At the onset of differentiation, cells transition from ARID1A-BAF to ARID1B-BAF, eliciting attenuation of the NANOG/SOX2 networks, and triggering pluripotency exit. Coffin-Siris patient cells fail to perform the ARID1A/ARID1B switch, and maintain ARID1A-BAF at pluripotency enhancers throughout all stages of CNCC formation. This leads to a persistent and aberrant SOX2 and NANOG activity, which impairs CNCC formation. In fact, despite showing the typical neural crest signature (TFAP2A+, SOX9+), the ARID1B-haploinsufficient CNCCs are also NANOG-positive, in stark contrast with the ARID1B-wt CNCCs, which are NANOG-negative. These findings suggest a connection between ARID1B mutations, neuroectoderm formation, and a pathogenic mechanism for Coffin-Siris syndrome.
Project description:ARID1A, a subunit of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, is frequently mutated in cancer. Deficiency in its homolog ARID1B is synthetically lethal with ARID1A mutation. However, the functional relationship between these homologs has not been explored. Here we use ATAC-seq, genome-wide histone modification mapping, and expression analysis to examine colorectal cancer cells lacking one or both ARID proteins. We find that ARID1A has a dominant role in maintaining chromatin accessibility at enhancers, while the contribution of ARID1B is evident only in the context of ARID1A mutation. Changes in accessibility are predictive of changes in expression and correlate with loss of H3K4me and H3K27ac marks, nucleosome spacing, and transcription factor binding, particularly at growth pathway genes including MET. We find that ARID1B knockdown in ARID1A mutant ovarian cancer cells causes similar loss of enhancer architecture, suggesting that this is a conserved function underlying the synthetic lethality between ARID1A and ARID1B.
Project description:ARID1A, a subunit of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, is frequently mutated in cancer. Deficiency in its homolog ARID1B is synthetically lethal with ARID1A mutation. However, the functional relationship between these homologs has not been explored. Here we use ATAC-seq, genome-wide histone modification mapping, and expression analysis to examine colorectal cancer cells lacking one or both ARID proteins. We find that ARID1A has a dominant role in maintaining chromatin accessibility at enhancers, while the contribution of ARID1B is evident only in the context of ARID1A mutation. Changes in accessibility are predictive of changes in expression and correlate with loss of H3K4me and H3K27ac marks, nucleosome spacing, and transcription factor binding, particularly at growth pathway genes including MET. We find that ARID1B knockdown in ARID1A mutant ovarian cancer cells causes similar loss of enhancer architecture, suggesting that this is a conserved function underlying the synthetic lethality between ARID1A and ARID1B.
Project description:Arid1a is the subunit of SWI/SNF complex, which was reported to guide SWI/SNF to DNA. Here, we found that loss of Arid1a in the liver and other adult tissues results in improved organ regeneration. Within SWI/SNF complexes, Arid1a physically interacts with C/ebpα, a hepatocyte transcription factor that drives maturation and limits proliferation. Genome-wide analysis showed that loss of Arid1a reduces the recruitment and activity of C/ebpα on target promoters, resulting in expression programs that favor regeneration and cellular fitness during injury. Arid1a binding is enriched in promoters near transcriptional start sites (TSSs), and C/ebpα binds at precisely the same positions, indicating that Arid1a facilitates C/ebpα binding across the genome. Perfuse and isolate primary hepatocytes from mice livers, analysis of genomic occupancy of C/ebpα and H3K4me2 in hepatocytes from Arid1a WT and Arid1a liver specific KO mice by ChIP-seq. Analysis of genomic occupancy of Arid1a in the hepatocytes from V5-Arid1a transgenic mouse by ChIP-seq.
Project description:Background - One of the causal mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) is chromatin modification, and the genes that regulate chromatin. AT-Rich Interactive Domain 1B (ARID1B), a chromatin modifier, has been shown to be reduced in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to affect rare and inherited genetic variation in a broad set of NDDs. Methods - A novel preclinical mouse model of Arid1b deficiency was created and validated to characterize and define neuroanatomical, behavioural and tran¬scriptional phenotypes. Neuroanatomy was assessed ex vivo in adult animals and in vivo longitudinally from birth to adulthood. Behavioural testing was also performed throughout development and tested all aspects of motor, learning, sociability, repetitive behaviours, seizure susceptibility and general milestones delays. Results – We validated decreased Arid1b mRNA and protein in Arid1b+/- mice, with signatures of increased axonal and synaptic gene expression and decreased transcriptional regulator and RNA processing expression in adult Arid1b+/- cerebellum. During neonatal development, Arid1b+/- mice exhibited robust impairments in ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) and metrics of developmental growth. In addition, a striking sex dependence was observed throughout development; males had an early emergence of this neuroanatomical phenotype at postnatal day 7, whereas females had a delayed emergence around postnatal day 40. Behaviourally, as adults, Arid1b+/- mice showed low motor skills in open field exploration and normal three chambered approach. Arid1b+/- mice had learning and memory deficits in novel object recognition but not in visual discrimination and reversal touchscreen tasks. Social interactions in the male-female social dyad with USVs revealed social deficits on some but not all parameters. No repetitive behaviours were observed. Brains of adult Arid1b+/- mice had a smaller cerebellum and a larger hippocampus and corpus callosum. These results stand in contrast to previously reported data highlighting losses in corpus callosum volume in mice. Limitations – The behaviour and neuroimaging analyses were done on separate cohorts of mice, which did not allow a direct correlation between the imaging and behavioural findings, and the transcriptomic analyses was exploratory, with no validation of altered expression beyond Arid1b. Conclusions – This study represents a full validation and investigation of a novel model of Arid1b+/- haploinsufficiency throughout development and highlights the importance of examining both sexes throughout development in NDDs.
Project description:De-novo ARID1B haploinsufficient mutations cause many developmental disorders characterized by neurological and craniofacial phenotypes, including Coffin-Siris Syndrome. ARID1B and its paralog ARID1A encode for mutually exclusive subunits of the BAF chromatin remodeler, yet their role in cell-fate determination is poorly understood. We discovered a novel neural crest configuration of the BAF complex (ARID1B-BAF), which includes ARID1B, SMARCA4, and eight additional subunits. The ARID1B-BAF regulates lineage commitment upon differentiation cues through attenuation of pluripotency enhancers of the SOX2 network. Consistently, the ARID1B-BAF interacts with SALL4, which is known to have repressing abilities during lineage commitment. In iPSCs, pluripotency enhancers are maintained in active state by cooperation between the pioneer activity of SOX2 and the ARID1A-containing BAF. At the onset of differentiation, ARID1B-BAF replaces ARID1A-BAF at these enhancers, eliciting chromatin repression and coordinating the exit from pluripotency. Coffin-Siris patient cells fail to perform the ARID1A/ARID1B switch, and maintain ARID1A-BAF at the pluripotency enhancers throughout CNCC differentiation. This correlates with aberrant SOX2 binding at the pluripotency enhancers, and failure to reposition SOX2 at the developmental enhancers. SOX2 dysregulation promotes upregulation of the NANOG regulatory network, impairing CNCC differentiation. Intriguingly, the patient with the most extreme molecular phenotype is also affected by a more severe version of the syndrome. These findings have significant biomedical implications, since they suggest a direct connection between ARID1B mutations and developmental disorders.
Project description:In order to determine the transcriptomic network under the control of BAF chromatin remodeling complex in neuroblastoma cells, we performed RNA-Seq analysis on a neuroblastoma cell lines to detect those transcriptionally modulated genes after the disruption of this complex through silencing of its key structural subunits ARID1A and ARID1B.