Project description:Chromatin remodeling complexes modulate DNA accessibility permitting neuronal progenitor cells to proliferate and differentiate to form the mammalian neocortex. In the case of BPTF, the major subunit of a chromatin remodelling complex called NURF, mutations leading to its haploinsufficiency have been linked to cause a recently annotated human neurodevelopmental disorder called NEDDFL (Neurodevelopmental disorder with dysmorphic facies and distal limb anomalies). Patients with this syndrome are mainly characterized with microcephaly and intellectual disability. We conditionally knockout (cKO) the Bptf gene during neocortical neurogenesis to analyze its role during embryonic and postnatal brain development. The Bptf cKO animals reveal significant forebrain hypoplasia. During cortical neurogenesis, the cKOs show a reduction in intermediate neuronal progenitor (INP) cells, an increase in apoptosis as well as a prolonged cell cycle of proliferating progenitors. Similarly, the cKOs have decreased proportions of pyramidal neurons expressing Ctip2 and Foxp1. Lastly, our RNA-seq analysis delineates gene pathways deregulated by Bptf’s removal, which are involved in neurogenesis and neuronal differentiation. Our results indicate that Bptf is critical for murine telencephalon neurogenesis. The hypoplasia demonstrated in the mouse model can resemble the microcephaly displayed by the human NEDFFL patients, highlighting the relevance of chromatin remodelling complexes during intricate neural developmental processes.
Project description:Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430 2.0 GeneChip microarrays were used to analyze murine neocortical and cerbellar astrocytes generated from postnatal (PN) day 1 wild-type (ICR) pups. Keywords: neocortical astrocyte, cerebellar astrocyte, murine, postnatal day 1
Project description:Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430 2.0 GeneChip microarrays were used to analyze murine neocortical and cerbellar astrocytes generated from postnatal (PN) day 1 wild-type (ICR) pups. Experiment Overall Design: Three samples each of murine neocortical and cerebellar astrocytes were analyzed.
Project description:Bptf, a component of NURF chromatin-remodeling complex, is essential for maintaining the pool size and function of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Genome-wide transcriptome profiling revealed that Bptf loss caused down-regulation of HSC-specific gene-expression programs, which included master transcription factors (such as Meis1, Pbx1, and Lmo2) known to be required for HSC maintenance and self-renewal. Bptf directly bound to the promoter of ‘stemness’ TF genes, potentiating their transcription and DNA accessibility.
Project description:Bptf, a component of NURF chromatin-remodeling complex, is essential for maintaining the pool size and function of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Genome-wide transcriptome profiling revealed that Bptf loss caused down-regulation of HSC-specific gene-expression programs, which included master transcription factors (such as Meis1, Pbx1, and Lmo2) known to be required for HSC maintenance and self-renewal. Bptf directly bound to the promoter of ‘stemness’ TF genes, potentiating their transcription and DNA accessibility.
Project description:Bptf, a component of NURF chromatin-remodeling complex, is essential for maintaining the pool size and function of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Genome-wide transcriptome profiling revealed that Bptf loss caused down-regulation of HSC-specific gene-expression programs, which included master transcription factors (such as Meis1, Pbx1, and Lmo2) known to be required for HSC maintenance and self-renewal. Bptf directly bound to the promoter of ‘stemness’ TF genes, potentiating their transcription and DNA accessibility.
Project description:Precise spatiotemporal control of mRNA translation machinery is essential to proper development of highly complex systems like the neocortex. Here, we show that an RNA-binding protein, Hu antigen R (HuR), regulates both neocorticogenesis and specificity of neocortical translation machinery in a developmental stagedependent manner in mice. Neocortical absence of HuR alters the phosphorylation states of the initiation and elongation factors of the core translation machinery. In addition, HuR regulates the temporally specific positioning of functionally related mRNAs into the active translation sites, the polysomes. HuR also determines the specificity of neocortical polysomes by defining their combinatorial composition of ribosomal proteins and initiation and elongation factors. For some of the HuR-dependent proteins, the association with polysomes depends on the eIF2 alpha kinase 4 (eIF2ak4), which associated with HuR in prenatal developing neocortices. Finally, we found that deletion of HuR prior to embryonic day 10 (E10) disrupts both neocortical lamination and formation of the main neocortical commissure, the corpus callosum. Our study identifies a crucial role for HuR in neocortical development as a translational gatekeeper for functionally related mRNA subgroups and polysomal protein specificity. Cortex was dissected from mouse pups at embryonic day 13 (E13) or the day of birth (P0).