Formation of the complex vertebrate nervous system begins when pluripotent cells of the early embryo are directed to acquire a neural fate. Although cell intrinsic controls play an important role in this process, the molecular nature of this regulation is not well defined. Here we assessed the role for Geminin, a nuclear protein expressed in embryonic cells, in neural fate acquisition from mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. While Geminin knockdown does not affect the ability of ES cells to maintain or exit pluripotency, we found that it significantly impairs their ability to acquire a neural fate. Conversely, Geminin overexpression promotes neural gene expression, even in the presence of growth factor signaling that antagonizes neural transcriptional responses. These data demonstrate that Geminins activity contributes to mammalian neural cell fate acquisition. We investigated the mechanistic basis of this phenomenon and found that Geminin maintains a hyperacetylated and open chromatin conformation at neural genes. Interestingly, recombinant Geminin protein also rapidly alters chromatin acetylation and accessibility even when Geminin is combined with nuclear extract and chromatin in vitro. These findings define a novel activity for Geminin in regulation of chromatin structure. Together, these data support a role for Geminin as a cell intrinsic regulator of neural fate acquisition that promotes expression of neural genes by regulating chromatin accessibility and histone acetylation.
Geminin promotes neural fate acquisition of embryonic stem cells by maintaining chromatin in an accessible and hyperacetylated state.
Specimen part, Treatment
View SamplesWe examined the transcriptional function of cyclin D1 in mouse development using two approaches. First, we queried association of cyclin D1 with the genome of E14.5 mouse embryos using ChIP-on-chip approach. We observed binding of cyclin D1 to several promoter regions. Second, we compared gene expression profiles between wild-type and cyclin D1-null retinas. We observed several transcripts with altered levels in cyclin D1-null organs.
Transcriptional role of cyclin D1 in development revealed by a genetic-proteomic screen.
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View SamplesCyclin D1 belongs to the core cell cycle machinery1, and it is frequently overexpressed in human cancers2. The full repertoire of cyclin D1 functions in normal development and in cancer cells is currently unknown. To address this question, here we introduce a novel approach that allows one to determine the set of cyclin D1-interacting proteins (D1 interactome) and cyclin D1-bound genomic fragments (D1 cistrome) in essentially any mouse organ, at any point of development or at any stage of cancer progression. Using this approach, we detected several novel tissue-specific interactors of cyclin D1. A significant number of these partners represent proteins involved in transcription. We show, using genome-wide location analysis3, that cyclin D1 occupies promoters of a very large number of genes in the developing mouse, where it binds in close proximity to transcription start sites. Bioinformatics analyses of cyclin D1-bound genomic segments in the developing embryo revealed DNA recognition sequences for several transcription factors. By querying SAGE libraries4, promoter CpG content5 and gene expression profiles of cyclin D1-null organs, we demonstrate that cyclin D1 binds promoters of highly expressed genes, and that it functions to activate or to repress gene expression in vivo. Analyses of cyclin D1 transcriptional targets reveal that cyclin D1 contributes to cell proliferation by upregulating genes required for S-phase entry and progression. Hence, cyclin D1 plays a broad transcriptional regulatory function in vivo during normal mouse development.
Transcriptional role of cyclin D1 in development revealed by a genetic-proteomic screen.
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