scholarly journals Parallel PRC2/cPRC1 and vPRC1 pathways silence lineage-specific genes and maintain self-renewal in mouse embryonic stem cells

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (14) ◽  
pp. eaax5692 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Zepeda-Martinez ◽  
C. Pribitzer ◽  
J. Wang ◽  
D. Bsteh ◽  
S. Golumbeanu ◽  
...  

The transcriptional repressors Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) and PRC2 are required to maintain cell fate during embryonic development. PRC1 and PRC2 catalyze distinct histone modifications, establishing repressive chromatin at shared targets. How PRC1, which consists of canonical PRC1 (cPRC1) and variant PRC1 (vPRC1) complexes, and PRC2 cooperate to silence genes and support mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) self-renewal is unclear. Using combinatorial genetic perturbations, we show that independent pathways of cPRC1 and vPRC1 are responsible for maintenance of H2A monoubiquitylation and silencing of shared target genes. Individual loss of PRC2-dependent cPRC1 or PRC2-independent vPRC1 disrupts only one pathway and does not impair mESC self-renewal capacity. However, loss of both pathways leads to mESC differentiation and activation of a subset of lineage-specific genes co-occupied by relatively high levels of PRC1/PRC2. Thus, parallel pathways explain the differential requirements for PRC1 and PRC2 and provide robust silencing of lineage-specific genes.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e56810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen G. Dowell ◽  
Allen K. Simons ◽  
Zack Z. Wang ◽  
Kyuson Yun ◽  
Matthew A. Hibbs

Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill L. O. de Jong ◽  
Alan J. Davidson ◽  
Yuan Wang ◽  
James Palis ◽  
Praise Opara ◽  
...  

Abstract Hematopoietic development during embryogenesis involves the interaction of extrinsic signaling pathways coupled to an intrinsic cell fate that is regulated by cell-specific transcription factors. Retinoic acid (RA) has been linked to stem cell self-renewal in adults and also participates in yolk sac blood island formation. Here, we demonstrate that RA decreases gata1 expression and blocks primitive hematopoiesis in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos, while increasing expression of the vascular marker, fli1. Treatment with an inhibitor of RA biosynthesis or a retinoic acid receptor antagonist increases gata1+ erythroid progenitors in the posterior mesoderm of wild-type embryos and anemic cdx4−/− mutants, indicating a link between the cdx-hox signaling pathway and RA. Overexpression of scl, a DNA binding protein necessary for hematopoietic development, rescues the block of hematopoiesis induced by RA. We show that these effects of RA and RA pathway inhibitors are conserved during primitive hematopoiesis in murine yolk sac explant cultures and embryonic stem cell assays. Taken together, these data indicate that RA inhibits the commitment of mesodermal cells to hematopoietic fates, functioning downstream of cdx4 and upstream of scl. Our studies establish a new connection between RA and scl during development that may participate in stem cell self-renewal and hematopoietic differentiation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 729-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dung-Fang Lee ◽  
Jie Su ◽  
Ana Sevilla ◽  
Julian Gingold ◽  
Christoph Schaniel ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyun Sun ◽  
Linxi Cheng ◽  
Yuhua Sun

AbstractPOGZ, which encodes a multi-domain transcription factor, has been found frequently mutated in neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). However, little is known about its function in ESC self-renewal and pluripotency, cell fate determination as well as in transcriptional regulation. Here, using embryonic stem cells (ESCs) as model, we show that POGZ plays key roles in the maintenance of ESC and cell fate determination by association with the SWI-SNW chromatin remodeler complex and heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) proteins. POGZ is essential for the maintenance of ESC undifferentiated state, and loss of POGZ leads to ESC differentiation, likely by up-regulation of primitive endoderm and mesoderm lineage genes and by down-regulation of pluripotency-related genes. Mechanistically, POGZ may control ESC-specific gene expression by association with chromatin remodeler complex esBAF and HP1s, and they can form a PBH triplex. POGZ functions primarily to maintain an open chromatin, as loss of POGZ leads to a reduced chromatin accessibility. Regulation of chromatin under control of POGZ depends on esBAF complex. POGZ is extensively co-localized with OCT4/NANOG genome wide. Taken together, we propose that POGZ is a pluripotency-associated factor, and its absence in ESCs causes failure to maintain a proper ESC-specific chromatin state and transcriptional circuitry of pluripotency, which eventually leads to ESC self-renewal and pluripotency defects. Our work provides important insights into the role of POGZ in ESC self-renewal and pluripotency as well as regulation of transcription, which will be useful for understanding the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders by POGZ mutation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (21) ◽  
pp. 6668-6680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albertus T. J. Wierenga ◽  
Edo Vellenga ◽  
Jan Jacob Schuringa

ABSTRACT The level of transcription factor activity critically regulates cell fate decisions, such as hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal and differentiation. We introduced STAT5A transcriptional activity into human HSCs/progenitor cells in a dose-dependent manner by overexpression of a tamoxifen-inducible STAT5A(1*6)-estrogen receptor fusion protein. Induction of STAT5A activity in CD34+ cells resulted in impaired myelopoiesis and induction of erythropoiesis, which was most pronounced at the highest STAT5A transactivation levels. In contrast, intermediate STAT5A activity levels resulted in the most pronounced proliferative advantage of CD34+ cells. This coincided with increased cobblestone area-forming cell and long-term-culture-initiating cell frequencies, which were predominantly elevated at intermediate STAT5A activity levels but not at high STAT5A levels. Self-renewal of progenitors was addressed by serial replating of CFU, and only progenitors containing intermediate STAT5A activity levels contained self-renewal capacity. By extensive gene expression profiling we could identify gene expression patterns of STAT5 target genes that predominantly associated with a self-renewal and long-term expansion phenotype versus those that identified a predominant differentiation phenotype.


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (16) ◽  
pp. 2716-2728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lluis Morey ◽  
Alexandra Santanach ◽  
Luciano Di Croce

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are characterized by their ability to self-renew and to differentiate into all cell types of a given organism. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that govern the ESC state is of great interest not only for basic research—for instance, ESCs represent a perfect system to study cellular differentiationin vitro—but also for their potential implications in human health, as these mechanisms are likewise involved in cancer progression and could be exploited in regenerative medicine. In this minireview, we focus on the latest insights into the molecular mechanisms mediated by the pluripotency factors as well as their roles during differentiation. We also discuss recent advances in understanding the function of the epigenetic regulators, Polycomb and MLL complexes, in ESC biology.


2011 ◽  
Vol 434 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaylor Boulay ◽  
Claire Rosnoblet ◽  
Cateline Guérardel ◽  
Pierre-Olivier Angrand ◽  
Dominique Leprince

PcG (Polycomb group) proteins are conserved transcriptional repressors essential to regulate cell fate and to maintain epigenetic cellular memory. They work in concert through two main families of chromatin-modifying complexes, PRC1 (Polycomb repressive complex 1) and PRC2–4. In Drosophila, PRC2 contains the H3K27 histone methyltransferase E(Z) whose trimethylation activity towards PcG target genes is stimulated by PCL (Polycomb-like). In the present study, we have examined hPCL3, one of its three human paralogues. Through alternative splicing, hPCL3 encodes a long isoform, hPCL3L, containing an N-terminal TUDOR domain and two PHDs (plant homeodomains) and a smaller isoform, hPCL3S, lacking the second PHD finger (PHD2). By quantitative reverse transcription–PCR analyses, we showed that both isoforms are widely co-expressed at high levels in medulloblastoma. By co-immunoprecipitation analyses, we demonstrated that both isoforms interact with EZH2 through their common TUDOR domain. However, the hPCL3L-specific PHD2 domain, which is better conserved than PHD1 in the PCL family, is also involved in this interaction and implicated in the self-association of hPCL3L. Finally, we have demonstrated that both hPCL3 isoforms are physically associated with EZH2, but in different complexes. Our results provide the first evidence that the two hPCL3 isoforms belong to different complexes and raise important questions about their relative functions, particularly in tumorigenesis.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 1028-1038.e6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wen ◽  
Ruitu Lv ◽  
Honghui Ma ◽  
Hongjie Shen ◽  
Chenxi He ◽  
...  

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