Project description:In many developing tissues the spatial and temporal pattern of gene expression is organised by secreted signals functioning in a graded manner over multiple cell diameters. Cis Regulatory Elements (CREs) interpret these graded inputs to control gene expression. How this is accomplished remains poorly understood. The morphogen Sonic hedgehog (Shh) acts in a graded manner to direct neural progenitor specification in the neural tube. Here, we uncover two distinct ways in which CREs translate graded Shh signaling into differential gene expression. A common set of CREs are used to control gene activity in the majority of ventral neural progenitors. These CREs integrate cell type specific inputs to control gene expression. By contrast, the most ventral progenitors use a unique set of CREs. These are established by the pioneer factor FOXA2, paralleling the role of FOXA2 in endoderm. Moreover, FOXA2 binds a subset of the same sites in neural and endoderm cells. Together the data identify distinct cis regulatory strategies for the interpretation of morphogen signaling and raise the possibility of an evolutionarily conserved role for Foxa2-mediated cell specification across tissues.
Project description:In many developing tissues the spatial and temporal pattern of gene expression is organised by secreted signals functioning in a graded manner over multiple cell diameters. Cis Regulatory Elements (CREs) interpret these graded inputs to control gene expression. How this is accomplished remains poorly understood. The morphogen Sonic hedgehog (Shh) acts in a graded manner to direct neural progenitor specification in the neural tube. Here, we uncover two distinct ways in which CREs translate graded Shh signaling into differential gene expression. A common set of CREs are used to control gene activity in the majority of ventral neural progenitors. These CREs integrate cell type specific inputs to control gene expression. By contrast, the most ventral progenitors use a unique set of CREs. These are established by the pioneer factor FOXA2, paralleling the role of FOXA2 in endoderm. Moreover, FOXA2 binds a subset of the same sites in neural and endoderm cells. Together the data identify distinct cis regulatory strategies for the interpretation of morphogen signaling and raise the possibility of an evolutionarily conserved role for Foxa2-mediated cell specification across tissues.
Project description:Purpose: Characterization of cell types in wild-type and TCTN2 KO human neural tube organoids (hNTOs). Methods: Wild-type and TCTN2 KO hNTOs were harvested at day11. Libraries were prepared using Single Cell 3′Library & gel Bead kit v3.1 (10x Genomics, Cat# PN-1000121) according to the manufacturer’s protocol for 10000 cells recovery. Results: 13 neural progenitor cells were detected in wild-type hNTOs, and TCTN2 deficiency led to reduction of ventral progenitors cells. Conclusions: A well-organized nueral tube organoid was constructed by applying BMP and SHH morphogen gradients.
Project description:In studies investigating Sonic hedgehog (Shh) mediated patterning of the ventral neural tube, a process where Shh acts as a morphogen, we have investigated the transcriptional network underlying neural tube specification. Adopting an ES-cell based Shh neuronal specification assay (embryoid body; EBs) and a FLAG-tagged Gli protein (a transcriptional effector of the Shh pathway), we identified a number of direct targets of Gli action using Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP). These results will provide a first survey of the genome level response to this critical signaling input in vertebrate patterning Keywords: ChIP-chip, Gli transcription factors, Gli1, neural specification, mouse
Project description:We analyzed scRNA-seq data in human pluripotent stem cells derived neural tube models. This in vitro system recapitulates some key aspects of neural patterning in the entire neural tube, including both brain and SC regions, along both rostral-caudal and dorsal-ventral axes
Project description:The spinal cord is generated progressively as cells leave the caudal region of the elongating body axis such that the temporal steps of neural differentiation become spatially separated along the head to tail axis. At key stages, it is therefore possible to isolate near-adjacent cell populations from the same embryo in distinct differentiation states. Cells in the caudal lateral epiblast adjacent to the primitive streak (also known as the stem zone, SZ, in the chick) express both early neural and mesodermal genes. Other cells in the stem zone will gastrulate to form the paraxial mesoderm or remain in the epiblast cell sheet and become neural progenitors. These latter cells form a new region called the preneural tube (PNT), which is flanked by unsegmented presomitic mesoderm and represents an early neural progenitor state that can be induced by FGF signalling to revert back to a multi-potent SZ state. Rostral to this, the closed caudal neural tube (CNT) is flanked by somites and is an early site of co-expression of genes characteristic of neural progenitors, and of ventral patterning genes (Diez del Corral et al., 2003). The CNT contains the first few neurons and exposure to FGF cannot revert this tissue to a multi-potent SZ state (Diez del Corral et al., 2002). The transition from the PNT to the CNT thus involves commitment to a neural fate that this is regulated by a switch from FGF to retinoid signalling. More advanced neuroepithelium is then located in more rostral neural tube (RNT), in which neuronal differentiation is ongoing and dorsoventral pattern is refined. This experiment uses the Affymetrix GeneChip chicken genome microarray to compare the transcriptomes of microdissections of these spatially distinct cell populations from the elongating neural axis of HH stage 10 chick embryos. Dissections were carried out in L15 medium at 4°C and explants pooled in TRIzol reagent (Gibco) for RNA extraction. Notochord was removed by controlled trypsin digestion that aimed to keep the neural ventral midline. For the microarrays, at least five tissue samples for each region were pooled to make each of three biological replicates for each (n>15 for each region).
Project description:Microarray analysis of chick embryo tissues: Hamburger Hamilton (HH) stage 3+/4 and HH6 Hensenâs node, HH 3+/4 posterior primitive streak, notochord with ventral neural tube at HH10-11, dorsal neural tube at HH10-11 and anterior and posterior thirds of the wing bud at stages HH20-21 and HH24.