Project description:Most humans carry a mixed population of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA heteroplasmy) affecting ~1-2% of molecules, but rapid percentage shifts occur over one generation leading to severe mitochondrial diseases. A decrease in the amount of mtDNA within the developing female germ line appears to play a role, but other sub-cellular mechanisms have been implicated. Establishing an in vitro model of early mammalian germ cell development from embryonic stem cells, here we show the reduction of mtDNA content is modulated by oxygen and reaches a nadir immediately before germ cell specification. The observed genetic bottleneck was accompanied by a decrease in mtDNA replicating foci and the segregation of heteroplasmy, which were both abolished at higher oxygen levels. Thus, differences in oxygen tension during early development can modulate mtDNA segregation, facilitating germ-line purification, and contribute to tissue-specific somatic mutation loads.
Project description:Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations cause inherited diseases and are implicated in the pathogenesis of common late-onset disorders, but it is not clear how they arise and propagate in the humans. Here we show that mtDNA mutations are present in primordial germ cells (PGCs) within healthy female human embryos. Close scrutiny revealed the signature of selection against non-synonymous variants in the protein-coding region, tRNA gene variants, and variants in specific regions of the non-coding D-loop. In isolated single PGCs we saw a profound reduction in the cellular mtDNA content, with discrete mitochondria containing ~5 mtDNA molecules during early germline development. Single cell deep mtDNA sequencing showed rare variants reaching higher heteroplasmy levels in later PGCs, consistent with the observed genetic bottleneck, and predicting >80% levels within isolated organelles. Genome-wide RNA-seq showed a progressive upregulation of genes involving mtDNA replication and transcription, linked to a transition from glycolytic to oxidative metabolism. The metabolic shift exposes deleterious mutations to selection at the organellar level during early germ cell development. In this way, the genetic bottleneck prevents the relentless accumulation of mtDNA mutations in the human population predicted by Muller’s ratchet. Mutations escaping this mechanism will, however, show massive shifts in heteroplasmy levels within one human generation, explaining the extreme phenotypic variation seen in human pedigrees with inherited mtDNA disorders.
Project description:In animals with germ plasm, specification of the germline involves “germ granules”, cytoplasmic condensates that enrich maternal transcripts in the germline founder cells. In C. elegans embryos, P granules enrich maternal transcripts, but surprisingly P granules are not essential for germ cell fate specification. Here we have described a second condensate in the C. elegans germ plasm. Like canonical P-bodies found in somatic cells, “germline P-bodies” contain regulators of mRNA decapping and deadenylation and, in addition, the intrinsically-disordered proteins MEG-1 and MEG-2 and the TIS11-family RNA-binding protein POS-1. Embryos lacking meg-1 and meg-2 do not stabilize P-body components, miss-regulate POS-1 targets, miss-specify the germline founder cell, and do not develop a germline. Our findings suggest that specification of the germ line involves at least two distinct condensates that independently enrich and regulate maternal mRNAs in the germline founder cells.
2022-10-05 | PXD036610 | Pride
Project description:Mutational meltdown of microbial altruists in Streptomyces coelicolor colonies
Project description:The reprogramming of parental methylomes is essential for embryonic development. In mammals, paternal 5-methylcytosines (5mCs) have been proposed to be actively converted to oxidized bases. These paternal oxidized bases and maternal 5mCs are believed to be passively diluted by cell divisions. By generating single-base resolution, allele-specific DNA methylomes from mouse gametes, early embryos, and primordial germ cell (PGC), as well as single-base-resolution maps of oxidized cytosine bases for early embryos, we report the existence of 5hmC and 5fC in both maternal and paternal genomes and find that 5mC or its oxidized derivatives, at the majority of demethylated CpGs, are converted to unmodified cytosines independent of passive dilution from gametes to four-cell embryos. Therefore, we conclude that paternal methylome and at least a significant proportion of maternal methylome go through active demethylation during embryonic development. Additionally, all the known imprinting control regions (ICRs) were classified into germ-line or somatic ICRs.
Project description:The early stages of embryonic development are critical for the proper formation of primordial germ cells. This process is tightly regulated by different cellular signals. Among others, small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) are involved in the regulation of these signals to carry out the embryonic development of germ cell linage. We analyzed the expression profiles of piRNAs and miRNAs after maternal exposure of embryos, during the first 13.5 days post-coitum, to two different endocrine disruptors (EDs) chemicals: vinclozolin and the main metabolite of phthalates (MEHP), in three successive generations after exposure only in the first generation. Our results indicate clear alterations in the expression of both piRNAs and miRNAs (including mitochondrial-related), concomitant with an increase in apoptotic cells in the female early folliculogenesis during this stage of development. However, the most drastic changes occur when the effect is generated by the exposure through both paternal and maternal pathways, rather than exclusively through the maternal exposure. Based on these findings, we hypothesize the existence of an "ovarian filtering" mechanism triggered by disruptor exposure and mediated by apoptotic mechanisms regulated by sncRNAs. This system, present only in the female germ cell lineage, could render a decrease in the follicle reserve in the adult life and would function as a defense mechanism to prevent the transmission of deleterious effects to subsequent generations.
Project description:In Xenopus laevis, a number of studies identified vegetal factors that specify the germ line, endoderm and dorsal axis, but there are few studies demonstrating roles for animal-enriched maternal mRNAs. Therefore, we carried out a microarray analysis to identify novel maternal transcripts enriched in animal blastomeres.
Project description:The reprogramming of parental methylomes is essential for embryonic development. In mammals, paternal 5-methylcytosines (5mCs) have been proposed to be actively converted to oxidized bases. These paternal oxidized bases and maternal 5mCs are believed to be passively diluted by cell divisions. By generating single-base resolution, allele-specific DNA methylomes from mouse gametes, early embryos, and primordial germ cell (PGC), as well as single-base-resolution maps of oxidized cytosine bases for early embryos, we report the existence of 5hmC and 5fC in both maternal and paternal genomes and find that 5mC or its oxidized derivatives, at the majority of demethylated CpGs, are converted to unmodified cytosines independent of passive dilution from gametes to four-cell embryos. Therefore, we conclude that paternal methylome and at least a significant proportion of maternal methylome go through active demethylation during embryonic development. Additionally, all the known imprinting control regions (ICRs) were classified into germ-line or somatic ICRs. The cross of two mouse strains was performed using DBA/2J as the paternal strain and C57BL/6J as the maternal strain. The hybrid embryos were collected at 2-cell, 4-cell, ICM, E6.5, E7.5 stages. Female and male E13.5 PGC samples (B6; 129S4-Pou5f1tm2Jae/J) were collected from timed mating of C57BL/6J female mice. MethylC-Seq: oocytes (C57BL/6J), sperm (DBA/2J), 2-cell embryos, 4-cell embryos, ICM, E6.5 embryos, E7.5 embryos, E13.5 female PGCs and E13.5 male PGCs. TAB-Seq: 2-cell embryos. fCAB-Seq: 2-cell embryos. RNA-Seq: oocytes (C57BL/6J).