Promyelocytic Leukemia Protein (PML) was first identified as a fusion product with the retinoic acid receptor alpha in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL). Although PML has previously been studied in cancer progression and various physiological processes, little is known about its functions in Embryonic Stem Cells (ESC). Here, we report that PML contributes to the maintenance of the ESC self-renewal by controlling the cell-cycle and sustaining the expression levels of crucial pluripotency factors. Transcriptomic analysis showed that the ablation of PML renders ESC prone to exit from the nave and acquire a primed-like pluripotent cell state. During differentiation PML influences cell fate decision by regulation of Tbx3. PML loss compromises the reprogramming ability of embryonic fibroblasts to induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) by inhibiting the TGF pathway at the very early stages. Collectively, these results designate PML as a member of the regulatory network for ESC pluripotency and somatic cell reprogramming.
Promyelocytic Leukemia Protein Is an Essential Regulator of Stem Cell Pluripotency and Somatic Cell Reprogramming.
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View SamplesGroucho related gene 5 (GRG5) is a multifunctional protein that has been implicated in late embryonic and postnatal mouse development. Here, we describe a previously unknown role of GRG5 in early developmental stages by analyzing its function in stem cell fate decisions. By both loss and gain of function approaches we demonstrate that ablation of GRG5 deregulates the Embryonic Stem Cell (ESC) pluripotent state whereas its overexpression leads to enhanced self-renewal and acquisition of cancer cell-like properties. A pro-oncogenic potential for GRG5 is revealed by the malignant behavior of teratomas generated from ESCs that overexpress it. Furthermore, transcriptomic analysis and cell differentiation approaches underline GRG5 as a multifaceted signaling regulator that represses mesendodermal-related genes. When ES cells exit pluripotency, GRG5 promotes neuroectodermal specification via Wnt and BMP signaling pathways suppression. Moreover, GRG5 promotes the neuronal reprogramming of fibroblasts and maintains the self-renewal of Neural Stem Cell (NSC) by sustaining the activity of Notch and Jak/Stat3 pathways. In summary, our results demonstrate that GRG5 has pleiotropic roles in stem cell biology functioning as a stemness factor and a neural fate specifier. Overall design: Gene expression profiling of control and Grg5 knockdown (KD) embryonic stem cells with RNA-seq, in dublicate, using Ion Torrent Proton.
Groucho related gene 5 (GRG5) is involved in embryonic and neural stem cell state decisions.
Cell line, Subject
View SamplesDespite timely and successful surgery, 32% of patients with bilateral and 10% with unilateral cryptorchidism will develop azoospermia. Cryptorchid boys at risk of azoospermia display a typical testicular histology of impaired mini-puberty at the time of the orchidopexy.
Testicular gene expression in cryptorchid boys at risk of azoospermia.
Specimen part
View SamplesMetastasis is the leading cause of death for cancer patients. Consequently it is imperative that we improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie progression of tumour growth towards malignancy. Advances in genome characterisation technologies have been very successful in identifying commonly mutated or misregulated genes in a variety of human cancers. However the difficulty in evaluating whether these candidate genes drive tumour progression remains a major challenge. Using the genetic amenability of Drosophila melanogaster we generated tumours with specific genotypes in the living animal and carried out a detailed systematic loss-of-function analysis to identify conserved genes that enhance or suppress epithelial tumour progression. This enabled the discovery of functional cooperative regulators of invasion and the establishment of a network of conserved invasion suppressors. This includes constituents of the cohesin complex, which can either promote individual or collective invasion, depending on the severity of effect on cohesin function.
A Genetic Analysis of Tumor Progression in Drosophila Identifies the Cohesin Complex as a Suppressor of Individual and Collective Cell Invasion.
Cell line
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Lhx1 functions together with Otx2, Foxa2, and Ldb1 to govern anterior mesendoderm, node, and midline development.
Specimen part
View SamplesExpression profiling of wild-type and Lhx1 null mouse definitive endoderm cultures using Illumina whole genome mouse V2 arrays.
Lhx1 functions together with Otx2, Foxa2, and Ldb1 to govern anterior mesendoderm, node, and midline development.
Specimen part
View SamplesComparative analysis of Endodermal-like cell lines with demonstrated ability to support myocardial differentiation
A comparative analysis of extra-embryonic endoderm cell lines.
Specimen part
View SamplesApela (also referred to as Elabela, Ende and Toddler) is a small signaling peptide that activates the G protein-coupled receptor Aplnr. We used CRISPR/Cas9 to generate a null, reporter-expressing allele, in order to study the role of Apela in the developing mouse embryo. We found that loss of Apela results in low penetrance cardiovascular defects that manifest after the onset of circulation. Targeted Apela null alleles exhibited different transcriptional activity depending on the presence or absence of a Neomycin selection cassette. These are referred to as Apela KO NEO-IN and Apela KO NEO-OUT strains, respectively. Despite subtle phenotypic characteristics that were unique to the NEO-OUT mutants, both Apela null strains shared the same variable expressivity of cardiovascular defects and the same penetrance of embryonic lethality. To investigate the earliest regulatory events leading to physical abnormalities in Apela mutants, we performed RNA-Seq on whole stage-matched and morphologically normal E7.5 embryos (3 wild-type, 6 Apela KO NEO-IN, and 6 Apela KO NEO-OUT individuals). We chose this stage because Apela is initially expressed in the embryo at late gastrulation, shortly after the emergence of extraembryonic mesoderm progenitors. Since modification of the Apela locus may influence the expression of neighboring genes, we examined the expression of upstream and downstream sequences and found no significant difference in their expression. Downregulated genes of interest included several mitochondrial genes, Ceacam2, Ulk4, and Mov10l1. Upregulated genes included the vascular endothelial growth factor Vegfc. Principal component analysis identified outliers (KO1 and KO9), both of which expressed lower levels of mesoderm markers. KO9 was further characterized by aberrant upregulation of erythroid and myeloid markers. This finding was confirmed in our study by qRT-PCR analysis of additional Apela null individuals. Overall design: 15 individual embryos were analyzed at E7.5. Embryos were stage-matched according to morphological landmarks. Control samples were wild-type (n=3), and Apela KO samples were null embryos from the NEO-IN (n=6, ‘KO1-6’) and NEO-OUT (n=6, ‘KO7-12) mutant strains. Whole embryos (including embryonic and extraembryonic tissues) were used for the analysis. Apela KO samples were isolated from homozygous KO intercrosses and therefore did not require genotyping.
Loss of Apela Peptide in Mice Causes Low Penetrance Embryonic Lethality and Defects in Early Mesodermal Derivatives.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesThe Notch signalling pathway plays fundamental roles in diverse developmental processes in metazoans, where it is important in driving cell fate and directing differentiation of various cell types. However, we still have limited knowledge about the role of Notch in early preimplantation stages of mammalian development, or how it interacts with other signalling pathways active at these stages such as Hippo. By using genetic and pharmacological tools in vivo, together with image analysis of single embryos and pluripotent cell culture, we have found that Notch is active from the 4-cell stage. Transcriptomic analysis in single morula identified novel Notch targets, such as early naïve pluripotency markers or transcriptional repressors such as TLE4. Our results reveal a previously undescribed role for Notch in driving transitions during the gradual loss of potency that takes place in the early mouse embryo prior to the first lineage decisions. Overall design: Transcriptomic analysis comparing single Rbpj mutant and control mouse morulae. RNA was isolated from individual E2.5 embryos from two litters. 3 mutant and 3 control embryos were used for analysis.
Transitions in cell potency during early mouse development are driven by Notch.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesTo comprehensively delineate the ontogeny of an organ system, we generated 112,217 single- cell transcriptomes representing all endoderm populations within the mouse embryo until midgestation. We employed graph-based approaches to model differentiating cells for spatio- temporal characterization of developmental trajectories. Our analysis reveals the detailed architecture of the emergence of the first (primitive or extra-embryonic) endodermal population and pluripotent epiblast. We uncover an unappreciated relationship between descendants of these lineages, before the onset of gastrulation, suggesting that mixing of extra-embryonic and embryonic endoderm cells occurs more than once during mammalian development. We map the trajectories of endoderm cells as they acquire embryonic versus extra-embryonic fates, and their spatial convergence within the gut endoderm; revealing them to be globally similar but retaining aspects of their lineage history. We observe the regionalized localization of cells along the forming gut tube, reflecting their extra-embryonic or embryonic origin, and their coordinate patterning into organ-specific territories along the anterior-posterior axis. Overall design: Total RNA was extracted from bulk tissue and dissociated cells of 13ss (~E8.75) gut tubes, from bulk tissue from anterior, anterior-midgut, midgut-posterior and posterior sections of 13ss gut tubes, as well as from extra-embryonic visceral endoderm and embryonic visceral endoderm of E7.5 embryos (see also table in section: Bulk RNA processing). The Trizol method (Invitrogen) was used for RNA extraction.
The emergent landscape of the mouse gut endoderm at single-cell resolution.
Specimen part, Subject
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