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Histone demethylase JmjD2A regulates neural crest specification.

ABSTRACT: The neural crest is a multipotent stem cell-like population that is induced during gastrulation, but only acquires its characteristic morphology, migratory ability, and gene expression profile after neurulation. This raises the intriguing possibility that precursors are actively maintained by epigenetic influences in a stem cell-like state. Accordingly, we report that dynamic histone modifications are critical for proper temporal control of neural crest gene expression in vivo. The histone demethylase, JumonjiD2A (JmjD2A/KDM4A), is expressed in the forming neural folds. Loss of JmjD2A function causes dramatic downregulation of neural crest specifier genes analyzed by multiplex NanoString and in situ hybridization. Importantly, in vivo chromatin immunoprecipitation reveals direct stage-specific interactions of JmjD2A with regulatory regions of neural crest genes, and associated temporal modifications in methylation states of lysine residues directly affected by JmjD2A activity. Our findings show that chromatin modifications directly control neural crest genes in vertebrate embryos via modulating histone methylation.

SUBMITTER: Strobl-Mazzulla PH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2939072 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Histone demethylase JmjD2A regulates neural crest specification.

Strobl-Mazzulla Pablo Hernan PH Sauka-Spengler Tatjana T Bronner-Fraser Marianne M

Developmental cell 20100901 3

The neural crest is a multipotent stem cell-like population that is induced during gastrulation, but only acquires its characteristic morphology, migratory ability, and gene expression profile after neurulation. This raises the intriguing possibility that precursors are actively maintained by epigenetic influences in a stem cell-like state. Accordingly, we report that dynamic histone modifications are critical for proper temporal control of neural crest gene expression in vivo. The histone demet ...[more]

PMID: 20833367

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Project description:Background:A number of JmjC domain-containing histone demethylases have been identified and biochemically characterized in mammalian models and humans. JMJD2A is a transcriptional co-factor and enzyme that catalyzes the demethylation of histone H3 lysine 9 and 36 (H3K9 and H3K36). Here in this study, we reported the role of JMJD2A in human glioma. Methods:Quantitative real-time PCR and western blot were performed to analyzed JMJD2A expression in glioma. Log-rank was performed to plot the survival curve. JMJD2A was knocked or overexpressed with lentivirus. Cell proliferation and colony formation were performed to assess the effects of JMJD2A on glioma cell growth. Xenograft experiment was performed the evaluate the growth rate of glioma cells in vivo. The signaling pathway was analyzed with western blot and mTOR was inhibited with rapamycin. Results:Quantitative real-time PCR and western blot experiments revealed higher expression of JMJD2A and lower levels of H3K9me3/H3K36me3 in glioma tissues than that in normal brain tissues. We showed that knockdown of JMJD2A expression attenuated the growth and colony formation in three lines of glioma cells (U251, T98G, and U87MG), whereas JMJD2A overexpression resulted in opposing effects. Furthermore, we performed in vivo xenograft experiments and our data demonstrated that JMJD2A knockdown reduced the growth of glioma T98G cells in vivo. Further mechanism study implicated that JMJD2A activated the Akt-mTOR pathway and promoted protein synthesis in glioma cells via promoting phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1) expression. The activation of the Akt-mTOR pathway was also validated in human glioma tissues. Finally, we showed that inhibition of mTOR with rapamycin blocked the effects of JMJD2A on protein synthesis, cell proliferation and colony formation of glioma cells. Conclusions:These findings demonstrated that JMJD2A regulated glioma growth and implicated that JMJD2A might be a promising target for intervention.

Project description:During vertebrate axis extension, adjacent tissue layers undergo profound morphological changes: within the neuroepithelium, neural tube closure and neural crest formation are occurring, while within the paraxial mesoderm somites are segmenting from the presomitic mesoderm (PSM). Little is known about the signals between these tissues that regulate their coordinated morphogenesis. Here, we analyze the posterior axis truncation of mouse Fgf3 null homozygotes and demonstrate that the earliest role of PSM-derived FGF3 is to regulate BMP signals in the adjacent neuroepithelium. FGF3 loss causes elevated BMP signals leading to increased neuroepithelium proliferation, delay in neural tube closure and premature neural crest specification. We demonstrate that elevated BMP4 depletes PSM progenitors in vitro, phenocopying the Fgf3 mutant, suggesting that excessive BMP signals cause the Fgf3 axis defect. To test this in vivo we increased BMP signaling in Fgf3 mutants by removing one copy of Noggin, which encodes a BMP antagonist. In such mutants, all parameters of the Fgf3 phenotype were exacerbated: neural tube closure delay, premature neural crest specification, and premature axis termination. Conversely, genetically decreasing BMP signaling in Fgf3 mutants, via loss of BMP receptor activity, alleviates morphological defects. Aberrant apoptosis is observed in the Fgf3 mutant tailbud. However, we demonstrate that cell death does not cause the Fgf3 phenotype: blocking apoptosis via deletion of pro-apoptotic genes surprisingly increases all Fgf3 defects including causing spina bifida. We demonstrate that this counterintuitive consequence of blocking apoptosis is caused by the increased survival of BMP-producing cells in the neuroepithelium. Thus, we show that FGF3 in the caudal vertebrate embryo regulates BMP signaling in the neuroepithelium, which in turn regulates neural tube closure, neural crest specification and axis termination. Uncovering this FGF3-BMP signaling axis is a major advance toward understanding how these tissue layers interact during axis extension with important implications in human disease.

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Histone demethylase JmjD2A regulates neural crest specification.

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Histone demethylase JmjD2A regulates neural crest specification.

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