Project description:Direct cardiac reprogramming converts fibroblasts into induced cardiomyocytes (iCMs) with the minimal combination of transcription factors, Gata4 (G), Mef2c (M), and Tbx5 (T). However, the induction of functional mature iCMs is inefficient and the mechanisms remain elusive. Mef2c is a central transcription factor in direct cardiac reprogramming. We investigated the effect of Mef2c isoforms(M1, M2, M6) and transcriptional activity (M2TAD) on cardiac reprogramming on cardiac reprogramming. Then, we found that the active form of Mef2c evoked epigenetic remodeling cooperating with p300 and promoted the maturation of iCMs.
Project description:Cardiac transcription factors (TFs) directly reprogram fibroblasts into induced cardiomyocytes (iCMs), where Mef2c acts as a pioneer factor with Gata4 and Tbx5 (GT). However, generation of functional and mature iCMs is inefficient and molecular mechanisms underlying this process remains largely unknown. Here we found that transduction of transcriptionally activated Mef2c via fusion of the powerful MyoD transactivation domain increased generation of beating iCMs by 30-fold in combination with GT.
Project description:The limited regenerative capacity of the adult human heart makes human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-based therapies a promising approach for treating myocardial infarction. However, hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) display immature features. In this study, we demonstrate that depletion of the transcription factor IRX3 promotes early cardiac commitment and enhances the maturation of hiPSC-CMs. We first established the temporal expression of IRX3 during hiPSC-CM differentiation and subsequently investigated its role by generating two IRX3 mutant hiPSC lines. IRX3-depleted cardiac progenitors exhibited increased expression of GATA4, NKX2-5, TBX5 and Wnt signaling-related genes, along with increased proliferation. Differentiation of IRX3-depleted cells yielded more cardiomyocytes with enhanced expression of TNNI1 and CX43. Notably, IRX3-depleted cardiomyocytes showed improved sarcomere alignment, enhanced cell-to-cell communication, and electrophysiological maturation. Furthermore, in silico analysis suggests that IRX3 regulates cardiomyocyte differentiation by modulating TBX5, GATA4 and NKX2-5 transcription along with their targets. Collectively, our findings underscore the potential of IRX3 depletion in facilitating the molecular and functional development of human cardiomyocytes.
Project description:We report the application of bioChIP-seq, bulk RNA-seq, Hi-C, H3K27ac HiChIP, and Massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) to characterize the p300-bound regulatory regions in murine cardiomyocytes (CMs). By obtaining ChIP-seq data of coactivator p300 from seven developmental stages of mouse CMs, we defined the dynamic p300 enhancers from embryonic CMs to adult CMs. We then validated the activity of dynamic p300 enhancers with AAV9-based MPRAs, we found dynamic p300 enhancers show dynamic activity from postnatal day 0 (P0) CMs to 4-week-old CMs. In addition, MRPA results suggest nuclear receptor motifs are required for the activity of some p300 late enhancers. With Hi-C and H3K27ac HiChIP data of E12.5, P0 and adult CMs, we identified chromatin structure changes such as chromatin loops, compartment switch, and new TAD boundaries are associated with dynamic p300 binding. This study provides data source of CM-selective p300 enhancers, chromatin 3D structure and gene expression during CM development and maturation.
Project description:The expression of genes is determined by the openness and accessibility of chromatin, which is the most basic phenomenon in the field of life sciences.The histone acetylase p300/CBP (CBP and P300 have similar structures and functions) can catalyze the acetylation of the lysine at the 27th position of histone H3(H3K27ac), which changes the the openness and accessibility of chromatin. Thus, p300/CBP are considered to be two of the most important transcription co-factors. To further understanding the role of p300/CBP in regulating calcium handing of prepubertal RV CMs, we first detected its expression in the prepubertal RV.The expressions of p300/CBP in the prepubertal dysfunctional RV were significantly downregulated, consistent with the data of p300-ChIP-seq, which showing the loss of p300 chromatin occupancy in calcium handing genes. Then we knocked out p300/CBP in neonatal mouse. p300/CBP knockout cardiomyocytes showed a impaired calcium handing ability, similar to that in prepubertal dysfunctional RV cardiomyocytes. These results confirmed the role of p300 in regulating the calcium handing ability of prepubertal RV CMs.