Project description:We report the effect of degradation of CEBPA (a critical myeloid lineage transcription factor) on the occupancy of core rRNA transcription machinery on rDNA in mouse GMP cells. We generated a CEBPA-Degron line by tagging endogenous alleles of the Cebpa gene with the FKBPV degron domain, and degraded CEBPA-FKBPV-FLAG fusion protein using dTAGV-1 ligand. We used anti-FLAG pulldown to demonstrate binding of CEBPA protein to rDNA at a conserved motif within the 18S transcribed region. On degradation of CEBPA, we found that RPA194 (component of Pol I) and RRN3 occupancy on rDNA were reduced, while the occupancy of upstream factors TAF1B (component of SL-1) and UBTF were unchanged. In parallel, we also found that CEBPA degradation reduced nascent rRNA transcription, cellular ribosome abundance, and cell growth. Our work indicates that the cell-type-specific transcription factor CEBPA recruits the Pol I-RRN3 complex to ribosomal DNA to promote rRNA transcription.
Project description:We perturbed mRNA degradation machinery in Ascl1-induced neurons (iNeurons) and investigated the change in mRNA half-lives. We performed SLAMseq Metabolic RNA Labeling on Mutant iNeuron line harbouring a ponasteroneA-inducible heterozygous dominant-negative Caf1 (dnCaf1) and on Wild Type iNeurons (WT). The Slamseq technique provided snapshots of mRNA kinetics allowing to estimate mRNA half-lives and assess the effect of mRNA degradation machinery on the level of mRNA stability.
Project description:We have perturbed mRNA degradation machinery and investigated the change in subcellular localization of mRNA in Ascl1-induced neurons (iNeurons). Mutant iNeuron line harbouring a ponasteroneA-inducible heterozygous dominant-negative Caf1 (dnCaf1) was generated, separated into neuronal compartments (soma and neurites) and sequenced in parallel with compartments from the Wild Type iNeurons (WT). Differential localization of mRNA between soma and neurites in the WT was then compared to the localization in dnCaf1 in order to identify the changes in localization.
Project description:We perturbed mRNA degradation machinery in mouse primary cortical neurons (mPCN) and investigated the change in mRNA half-lives. We performed SLAMseq Metabolic RNA Labeling on Mutant mPCN line harbouring a ponasteroneA-inducible heterozygous dominant-negative Caf1 (dnCaf1) and on GFP-transfected mPCNs. The Slamseq technique provided snapshots of mRNA kinetics allowing to estimate mRNA half-lives.
Project description:We have perturbed mRNA degradation machinery and investigated the change in subcellular localization of mRNA in mouse primary cortical neurons (mPCNs). Mutant mPCN line harbouring a ponasteroneA-inducible heterozygous dominant-negative Caf1 (dnCaf1) was generated, separated into neuronal compartments (soma and neurites) and sequenced in parallel with compartments from the GFP-transfected cells (GFP, negative control).
Project description:C/EBPalpha is a transcription factor critically involved in myeloid development and indispensable for formation of granulocytes. To track the cellular fate of stem and progenitor (LSK) cells, which express C/EBPalpha, we developed a mouse model expressing Cre recombinase from the Cebpa promoter and an inducible EYFP allele. We show that Cebpa/EYFP+ cells represent a significant subset of LSK cells, which predominantly give rise to myeloid cells in steady state hematopoiesis. C/EBPalpha induced a robust myeloid gene expression signature and downregulated E2A-induced regulators of early lymphoid development. In addition, Cebpa/EYFP+ cells comprise a fraction of early thymic progenitors (ETP) with robust myeloid potential. However, Cebpa/EYFP+ LSK and ETP cells retained the ability to develop into erythroid and T-lymphoid lineages, respectively. These findings support an instructive, but argue against a lineage restrictive role of C/EBPalpha in multipotent hematopoietic and thymic progenitors. We performed global gene expression profiling of double-sorted Cebpa/EYFP+ and Cebpa/EYFP- LSK cells of pooled Cebpa Cre/wt R26 EYFP reporter mice to identify differentially regulated genes in Cebpa+ versus Cebpa- LSK cells. RNA was isolated from three biological replicates of Cebpa/EYFP+ LSK cells and two biological replicates of Cebpa/EYFP- LSK cells. To determine if the identified genes were truly dependent on Cebpa expression, we also performed global gene expression profilling of Cebpa/EYFP+ and Cebpa/EYFP- fetal liver LSK cells of Cebpa Cre/fl R26 EYFP mice. Induction of Cebpa/Cre expression in these mice leads to Cre-mediated recombination of the floxed wt Cebpa allele resulting in a complete Cebpa knock-out. In this case, RNA was isolated from two biological replicates of either Cebpa/EYFP+ and Cebpa/EYFP- LSK cells. In addition, we included one biological replicate of Cebpa/EYFP+ and Cebpa/EYFP- fetal liver LSK cells of Cebpa Cre/wt R26 EYFP mice to determine the correlation of differentially regulated genes in bone marrow and fetal liver LSK cells.
Project description:The key myeloid transcription factor (TF) CEBPA is frequently mutated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but the molecular ramifications of this leukemic driver mutation remain elusive. To investigate CEBPA mutant AML, we compared gene expression changes in human CEBPA mutant AML and in the corresponding CebpaLp30 mouse model, and identified a conserved cross-species transcriptional program. ChIP-seq revealed aberrantly activated enhancers, exclusively occupied by the leukemia-associated CEBPA-p30 isoform. One leukemic-enhancer upstream of Nt5e, encoding CD73, was physically and functionally linked to this conserved AML gene, and could be activated by CEBPA. Targeting of CD73-adenosine signaling increased AML survival in transplanted mice. Our data indicate a first-in-class link between a TF cancer driver mutation and a druggable, direct transcriptional target.
Project description:Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease from the molecular and biological standpoints, and even patients with a specific gene expression profile may present clinical and molecular heterogeneity. We studied the epigenetic profiles of a cohort of patients that shared a common gene expression profile but differed in that only half of them harbored mutations of the CEBPA locus, while the rest presented with silencing of this gene and co-expression of certain T cell markers. DNA methylation studies revealed that these two groups of patients could be readily segregated in an unsupervised fashion based on their DNA methylation profiles alone. Furthermore, CEBPA silencing was associated with the presence of an aberrant DNA hypermethylation signature, which was not present in the CEBPA mutant group. This aberrant hypermethylation occurred more frequently at sites within CpG islands. CEBPA silenced leukemias also displayed marked hypermethylation when compared with normal CD34+ hematopoietic cells, while CEBPA mutant cases showed only mild changes in DNA methylation when compared to these normal progenitors. Biologically, CEBPA silenced leukemias presented with a decreased response to myeloid growth factors in vitro. Keywords: DNA methylation profiling Direct comparison of DNA methylation in leukemic blasts from 8 patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) carrying a CEBPA mutation and 8 patients with AML without CEBPA mutation but with silencing of CEBPA expression. Two control groups are included: 8 CD34+ bone marrow samples from healthy donors and 9 samples of T Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL) patients.
Project description:Weaker CEBPA binding in the human than in the mouse genome is a general trait of the human genome across multiple biological conditions. Alu repeats carry strong CEBPA binding motifs, which compete with regulatory regions for CEBPA binding. To directly test this hypothesis, we attempted to overcome Alu competition by using, first, a CRISPR-dCas9 system in BLaER1 cells (Rapino et al. 2013). By promoting the recruitment of the inactive Cas9 to Alu regions with specific gRNAs targeting Alu repeats containing strong CEBPA motifs we protected them, hampering CEBPA binding to these regions. We tested the effect of two different paired gRNA constructs in two replicates and one control paired gRNA in two replicates. Second, we also further overexpressed CEBPA in human BLaER1 cells to overcome Alu competition. We tested two doses of CEBPA overexpression in two replicates and one control experiment in two replicates.
Project description:Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease from the molecular and biological standpoints, and even patients with a specific gene expression profile may present clinical and molecular heterogeneity. We studied the epigenetic profiles of a cohort of patients that shared a common gene expression profile but differed in that only half of them harbored mutations of the CEBPA locus, while the rest presented with silencing of this gene and co-expression of certain T cell markers. DNA methylation studies revealed that these two groups of patients could be readily segregated in an unsupervised fashion based on their DNA methylation profiles alone. Furthermore, CEBPA silencing was associated with the presence of an aberrant DNA hypermethylation signature, which was not present in the CEBPA mutant group. This aberrant hypermethylation occurred more frequently at sites within CpG islands. CEBPA silenced leukemias also displayed marked hypermethylation when compared with normal CD34+ hematopoietic cells, while CEBPA mutant cases showed only mild changes in DNA methylation when compared to these normal progenitors. Biologically, CEBPA silenced leukemias presented with a decreased response to myeloid growth factors in vitro. Experiment Overall Design: Direct comparison of gene expression in leukemic blasts from 8 patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) carrying a CEBPA mutation and 8 patients with AML without CEBPA mutation but with silencing of CEBPA expression, and with 9 samples of T Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL) patients.