Expression analysis in hESCs with HPAT5-KO
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) are transcribed from thousands of loci in mammalian genomes and play essential roles in diverse biological processes. Their expression is often restricted to distinct developmental contexts and often exhibits precise cell- and/or tissue-specific localization. Recent studies demonstrated that their sequences are highly enriched for repetitive elements (REs) of retroviral origin that might have contributed to their evolution and function-acquisition through development. However, the molecular mechanism(s) by which they regulate gene networks in a cell type-specific manner is largely unknown. Here, we used single-cell gene expression profiling during nuclear reprogramming and identified three endogenous retrovirus 1 (ERV1)-derived lincRNAs (HPAT2, 3 and 5) that are coordinately expressed along with key factors of the core regulatory pluripotency network (OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, SALL4). Chromatin precipitation and reporter-system based assays revealed that NANOG regulates gene expression of these novel lincRNAs in a methylation-dependent manner. Gain- and loss-of function assays identify HPAT5 as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) that acts to regulate pluripotency via a molecular mechanism in which HPAT5 sequesters specific microRNAs (miRNAs) during nuclear reprogramming or human embryonic stem cell (hESC) differentiation to protect SALL4 from let-7 mediated degradation. These results indicate that primate-specific retroviral-derived lincRNAs may regulate widely-conserved pluripotency pathways in human stem cells via novel mechanisms of competition and sequestration. We used microarrays to study the ceRNA crosstalk on a global level in hESCs lacking the HPAT5 locus.
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
SUBMITTER: Jens Durruthy Durruthy
PROVIDER: E-MTAB-2994 | biostudies-arrayexpress |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress
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