Project description:Cellular differentiation involves widespread epigenetic reprogramming, including modulation of DNA methylation patterns. Using Differential Methylation Hybridization (DMH) in combination with a custom DMH array containing more than 53,000 features covering more than 16,000 murine genes, we carried out a genome-wide screen for cell- and tissue-specific differentially methylated regions (tDMRs) in undifferentiated embryonic stem cells (ESCs), in in-vitro induced neural stem cells (NSCs) and 8 differentiated embryonic and adult tissues. Unsupervised clustering of the generated data showed distinct cell- and tissue-specific DNA methylation profiles, revealing 202 significant tDMRs (p<0.005) between ESCs and NSCs and a further 380 tDMRs (p<0.05) between NSCs/ESCs and embryonic brain tissue. We validated these tDMRs using direct bisulfite sequencing (DBS) and methylated DNA immunoprecipitation on chip (MeDIP-chip). Gene ontology (GO) analysis of the genes associated with these tDMRs showed significant (absolute Z score >1.96) enrichment for genes involved in neural differentiation, including e.g. Jag1 and Tcf4. Our results provide robust evidence for the relevance of DNA methylation in early neural development and identify novel marker candidates for neural cell differentiation.
Project description:This study investigates the molecular mechanisms by which the DNA/RNA-binding protein HNRNPU regulates gene expression during early human neural development. Pathogenic variants in HNRNPU cause a severe neurodevelopmental disorder, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. To explore the role of HNRNPU in transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, we used human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neuroepithelial stem cells (NES) and differentiating neural cells as model systems. We performed formaldehyde crosslinking and ribonucleoprotein immunoprecipitation followed by RNA sequencing (fRIP-seq) to identify RNA targets bound by HNRNPU, whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) to assess the impact of HNRNPU silencing on DNA methylation landscapes, and CUT&RUN profiling to map chromatin marks at regulatory regions. Together, these datasets provide a comprehensive view of HNRNPU’s interactions with RNA, and its influence on the epigenetic state of key developmental genes. The data can be used to study RNA–protein interactions, DNA methylation dynamics, and chromatin regulation during neural differentiation. Mass spectrometry data was deposited to PRIDE under accession number PXD061718.
Project description:Neural crest cells (NCCs) originate from the neural tube during early embryogenesis, and they are a pivotal cell population involved in vertebrate development. NCCs are mainly divided into cranial NCCs (cNCCs) and trunk NCCs (tNCCs), which subsequently differentiate into diverse tissues and organs. Proper differentiation and fate determination into NCCs are essential for normal development and survival of individuals, and abnormal differentiation of NCCs can lead to various diseases such as cardiac disorders and tumors. Epigenetic mechanisms, including histone modification and DNA methylation, are crucial for regulating NCC differentiation. However, the specific mechanisms of DNA methylation underlying the differentiation of cNCCs and tNCCs remain poorly understood. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by comparing the differentiation mechanisms of cranial and trunk NCCs derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Through integrated analysis of the transcriptome and DNA methylome data, we found that along with differentiation, DNA demethylation upstream of the transcription start sites of myocyte enhancer factor 2C (MEF2C) in cNCCs and thyroid hormone receptor alpha-2 (THRA2) in tNCCs led to increased expression of these genes. Furthermore, MEF2C and THRA2 were found to potentially regulate NCC markers. Our findings contribute to a detailed understanding of regulatory mechanisms of DNA methylation in normal NCC differentiation and may provide insights into the pathogenesis of NCC-related diseases such as neuroblastoma.
Project description:DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation have been implicated in normal development and differentiation, but our knowledge about the genome-wide distribution of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) during cellular differentiation remains limited. Using in vitro model system of gradual differentiation of human embryonic stem (hES) cells into ventral midbrain-type neural precursor (NP) cells and terminally into dopamine (DA) neurons, we explored changes in 5mC or 5hmC patterns during lineage commitment. We used three techniques, 450K DNA methylation array, MBD-seq, and hMeDIP-seq, and found combination of these methods can provide comprehensive information on the genome-wide 5mC or 5hmC patterns. We observed dramatic changes of 5mC patterns during differentiation of hES cells into NP cells. Although genome-wide 5hmC distribution was more stable than 5mC, coding exons, CpG islands and shores showed dynamic 5hmC patterns during differentiation. In addition to the role of DNA methylation as a mechanism to initiating gene silencing, we also found DNA methylation as a locking system to maintain gene silencing. More than 1,000 genes including mesoderm development related genes acquired promoter methylation during neuronal differentiation even though they were already silenced in hES cells. Finally, we found that activated genes lost 5mC in transcription start site (TSS) but acquired 5hmC around TSS and gene body during differentiation. Our findings may provide clues for elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying lineage specific differentiation of pluripotent stem cells during human embryonic development. Examination of genome-wide DNA methylation in 3 cell types (human embryonic stem, neural precursor, and dopamine neuron cells)
Project description:In the current study, we have performed a high-throughput CpG methylation analysis of well characterized and defined populations of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) before and after in vitro induction of osteogenic and myogenic differentiation that allows identifying DNA methylation- regulated differentiation genes. We have also address the extent of the epigenetic programming of hASCs- derived differentiated cells by comparing the methylation profiling of these cells with their somatic counterparts from primary tissues. Finally, we also compared the patterns of CpG methylation of hASCs (and their derivatives) with the methylation profiles of myosarcoma and osteosrcoma cell lines. All the CpG methylation studies have been performed with the Infinium 27K methylation arrays (from Illumina).
Project description:Tissue and their component cells have unique DNA methylation profiles comprising DNA methylation patterns of tissue-dependent and differentially methylated regions (T-DMRs). T-DMRs are found throughout the genome and influence tissue-specific gene expression. DNA methylation profile of T-DMRs underlies the network of tissue- and developmental stage-specific transcription factors and their targets. The adult brain consists of various kinds of cells that sequentially appear as neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes from late gestation through the neonatal period. Distinctive neural progenitor cells (NPCs) that exhibit different differentiation poteintials to neurons to glial cells are generated during mid-to-late gestation. To explore DNA methylation profiles of mouse NPCs, we compared neurospheres derived from telencephalons at embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5NSph) and 14.5 (E14.5NSph) by T-DMR profiling with restriction tag-mediated amplification (D-REAM) combined with Affymetrix GeneChip Mouse Promoter 1.0R Array. We used HpyCH4IV, a methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme that recognizes ACGT residues. Because these are uniformly distributed across the genome, it enables less biased analysis. By comparing D-REAM data between E11.5NSph and E14.5NSph, we identified genes with T-DMRs including those involved in neural develpment and/or associated with neurological disorders in humans. The present study elucidates the underlying dynamics of the DNA methylation profile of T-DMRs during neural development, including insights into developmental stage-specific hypomethylation of T-DMRs around TSSs.
Project description:Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are useful as a tool for reproducing neural development in vitro. However, each hiPSC line has a different ability to differentiate into specific lineages, as known as differentiation propensity, resulting in reduced reproducibility and increased time and cost requirements for research use. To overcome this issue, we searched for predictive signatures of neural differentiation propensity of hiPSCs using DNA methylation which is the main modulator of cellular properties. We obtained 32 lines of hiPSC and its comprehensive DNA methylation data by Infinium MethylationEPIC beadchip. To assess the neural differentiation efficiency of these hiPSCs, we measured the percentage of PAX6-positive cells on day 7 of neural stem cell induction by the dual-SMAD inhibition protocol. Using DNA methylation data of undifferentiated hiPSCs and their measured differentiation efficiency into neural stem cells as the set of data, and HSIC Lasso, a machine learning-based nonlinear feature selection method, we attemted to identify neural differentiation associated differentially methylated sites. Epigenome-wide unsupervised clustering could not distinguish between hiPSCs with varying differentiation efficiency. On the other hand, HSIC Lasso identified 62 probes that can explain the neural differentiation efficiency of hiPSCs. Selected features by HSIC Lasso were particularly enriched within the 3 Mbp on chromosome 5, harboring the IRX2, C5orf38, and IRX1 genes. Within this region, DNA methylation rates were correlated with neural differentiation efficiency particular to female hiPSCs and negatively correlated with gene expression of the IRX1/2 genes. In addition, forced expression of the IRX1/2 genes impaired the neural differentiation ability of hiPSCs. We have shown for the first time that DNA methylation state on the IRX1/2 genes of hiPSCs is predictive biomarker of their ability for neural differentiation. The predictive markers for neural differentiation efficiency identified in this study can be useful for selection of suitable undifferetiated hiPSCs prior to differentiation induction.