Transcriptome analysis of wild-type and maternal zygotic double mutant of nup85;nup133 zebrafish embryos during early development
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ABSTRACT: To study the function of zebrafish nuclear pores during early embryogenesis, we generated maternal zygotic double mutant of nup85;nup133 (MZnup85;nup133) using CRISPR/Cas9 and report the transcriptome-wide changes in comparison to wild-type (WT) embryos. Our analysis reveals a dramatic delay of maternal mRNA degradation and zygotic genome activation in MZnup85;nup133 embryos during maternal-to-zygotic transition.
Project description:Embryogenesis entails dramatic shifts in mRNA translation and turnover to account for gene expression differences during proliferation and cellular differentiation. Codon identity modulates mRNA stability during early vertebrate embryogenesis, but how the composition of tRNA pools adapts to the embryo s translational demand is unknown. By quantitatively profiling the tRNA repertoires of zebrafish embryos during the maternal-to-zygotic transition, here we find that maternal and zygotic tRNA pools are distinct. We show that translational activation during embryogenesis and tRNA gene derepression are temporally coordinated by TORC1 activity, which increases at gastrulation and inactivates the RNA polymerase III repressor Maf1a/b in vivo. Reshaping of tRNA pools results in differential tRNA anticodon supply, but these changes do not alter decoding rates in zebrafish embryos. Instead, our data indicate that tRNA repertoires reflect the inherent codon bias of the zebrafish mRNA transcriptome, and tRNA levels are boosted at gastrulation to ensure efficient translation as embryos enter differentiation.
Project description:To investigate the function of nuclear pore complex (NPC) in the regulation of zygotic genome activation (ZGA), we established mutants of nucleoporins, including maternal and zygotic mutant of nup133 (MZnup133) and maternal mutant of elys (Melys), for maternal depletion by CRISPR/Cas9, and transgenic embryos of nup133 (Tgnup133) for maternal overexpression through Tol2 mediated method. We then performed gene expression profiling analysis using data obtained from RNA-seq of wildtype, MZnup133, Melys and Tgnup133 at three time points.
Project description:Early embryogenesis is characterized by the maternal to zygotic transition (MTZ), in which maternally deposited messenger RNAs are translated and subsequently degraded while zygotic transcription begins. Posttranscriptional gene regulation by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) is a dominant force controlling pre-zygotic gene expression. Here we describe the first in vivo mRNA-bound proteome in early Drosophila melanogaster embryos. mRNA interactome capture using conventional (254nm) and photoactivatable ribonucleoside-enhanced UV-crosslinking (365nm) was applied to detect RBPs bound to maternal and early zygotic polydenylated transcripts within the first two hours of embryogenesis. We identified a high confidence set of 476 putative RBPs and confirmed RNA-binding activity for most of the tested candidates. The majority of the identified proteins in the early fly mRNA interactome were known RBPs, harboring canonical RBPs features. Nearly hundred of the identified proteins were previously not known to bind RNA. Interestingly, mRNAs encoding RBPs and TFs exhibit time specific expression modules, in which RBPs dominate the first hours of embryonic development. Using fly-FISH data, we could show enriched RBP localization in the posterior embryo during these first hours of fly embryogenesis, suggesting general importance germ cell maturation.
Project description:Upon fertilization, the embryonic genome remains transcriptionally inactive until the mid-blastula transition. Zygotic genome activation (ZGA) of vertebrate embryos has been extensively studied using nucleic acid-based strategies, but proteomics data are still scarce, impeding the full mechanistic understanding of how ZGA is executed during the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT). Here, we performed quantitative proteomics to decipher the proteome landscape of zebrafish embryos during the MZT, quantifying nearly 5,000 proteins across four embryonic stages. The stage-specific clustering based on protein expression pattern revealed that helicases (i.e., eif4a2 and ruvbl1) facilitate pluripotency factors (i.e., nanog, pou5f3, ctcf, and hmga1) triggering ZGA in zebrafish, accompanied by the maternal product decay with P-bodies and ubiquitin dependent proteolytic pathway. Dozens of transcription factors show wave-like expression patterns during MZT, implying their diverse functions in triggering the ZGA and modulating differentiation for organ development. The combination of morpholino knockdown and quantitative proteomics demonstrated that maternal Nanog is required for proper embryogenesis by regulating 1) interactions with other pluripotency factors, 2) F-actin band formation, 3) cell cycle checkpoints and 4) maternal product degradation. This study represents the most systematic proteomics survey of developmentally regulated proteins and their expression profiles accompanying MZT in zebrafish, which is a valuable proteome resource for understanding ZGA.
Project description:During the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT), transcriptionally silent embryos rely on post-transcriptional regulation of maternal mRNAs until zygotic genome activation (ZGA). RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are important regulators of post-transcriptional RNA processing events, yet their identities and functions during developmental transitions in vertebrates remain largely unexplored. Using mRNA interactome capture, we identified 227 RBPs in zebrafish embryos before and during ZGA, hereby named the zebrafish MZT mRNAbound proteome. This protein constellation consists of many conserved RBPs, with additional embryo- and stage-specific mRNA interactors that likely reflect the dynamics of RNA-protein interactions during MZT. The enrichment of numerous splicing factors like hnRNP proteins before ZGA was surprising, because maternal mRNAs were found to be fully spliced. To address potentially unique roles of RBPs in embryogenesis, we focused on hnRNP A1. iCLIP and subsequent mRNA reporter assays revealed a function for hnRNP A1 in the regulation of poly(A) tail length and translation of maternal mRNAs through sequence-specific association with 3’UTRs before ZGA. Comparison of iCLIP data from two developmental stages revealed that hnRNP A1 dissociates from maternal mRNAs at ZGA and instead regulates the nuclear processing of pri-miR-430 transcripts, which we validated experimentally. The shift from cytoplasmic to nuclear RNA targets was accompanied by a dramatic translocation of hnRNP A1 and other pre-mRNA splicing factors to the nucleus in a transcription-dependent manner. Thus, our study identifies global changes in RNA-protein interactions during vertebrate MZT and shows that hnRNP A1 RNA-binding activities are spatially and temporally coordinated to regulate RNA metabolism during early development.
Project description:During early embryogenesis, embryos undergo a massive degradation of maternally inherited mRNAs and produce new zygotic transcripts. This maternal-to-zygotic transition requires a tight interplay of mRNA transcription and degradation, but distinguishing their unique contributions remains a challenge. Here, we dissect gene regulation during the zebrafish maternal-to-zygotic transition by combining single-cell RNA-sequencing with RNA metabolic labeling and nucleotide conversion within zebrafish embryos. We decompose single-cell transcriptomes into their new (zygotic) and old (maternal) mRNA components, and elicit critical information on gene regulation as it unfolds over both time and space. We show that most cell-type restricted expression arises by zygotic transcription, but distinguish a specific role for maternal transcripts in defining germ-cell and enveloping-layer identity, two earliest specified cell identities. We recover the underlying replacement between maternal and zygotic copies of embryonic genes with a relatively constant overall mRNA level, and associate a fast replacement with genes that has a restricted zygotic expression in either cell-type or time. Our study provides a valuable resource to investigate maternal and zygotic transcriptomes and reveals post-transcriptional events that control gene regulation during early embryogenesis.
Project description:During early embryogenesis, embryos undergo a massive degradation of maternally inherited mRNAs and produce new zygotic transcripts. This maternal-to-zygotic transition requires a tight interplay of mRNA transcription and degradation, but distinguishing their unique contributions remains a challenge. Here, we dissect gene regulation during the zebrafish maternal-to-zygotic transition by combining single-cell RNA-sequencing with RNA metabolic labeling and nucleotide conversion within zebrafish embryos. We decompose single-cell transcriptomes into their new (zygotic) and old (maternal) mRNA components, and elicit critical information on gene regulation as it unfolds over both time and space. We show that most cell-type restricted expression arises by zygotic transcription, but distinguish a specific role for maternal transcripts in defining germ-cell and enveloping-layer identity, two earliest specified cell identities. We recover the underlying replacement between maternal and zygotic copies of embryonic genes with a relatively constant overall mRNA level, and associate a fast replacement with genes that has a restricted zygotic expression in either cell-type or time. Our study provides a valuable resource to investigate maternal and zygotic transcriptomes and reveals post-transcriptional events that control gene regulation during early embryogenesis.
Project description:A long-standing question in the field of embryogenesis is how the zygotic genome is precisely activated by maternal factors, allowing normal early embryonic development. We have previously shown that N6-methyladenine (6mA) DNA modification is highly dynamic in early Drosophila embryos and forms an epigenetic mark. However, little is known about how 6mA-formed epigenetic information is decoded. Here we report that the Fox-family protein Jumu binds 6mA-marked DNA and acts as a maternal factor to regulate the maternal-to-zygotic transition. We find that zelda encoding the pioneer factor Zelda is marked by 6mA. Our genetic assays suggest that Jumu controls the proper zygotic genome activation (ZGA) in early embryos, at least in part, by regulating zelda expression. Thus, our findings not only support that the 6mA-formed epigenetic can be read by specific transcription factors, but also uncover a mechanism by which the Jumu regulates ZGA partially through Zelda in early embryos.
Project description:In all animals, the initial events of embryogenesis are controlled by maternal gene products that are deposited into the developing oocyte. At some point after fertilization, control of embryogenesis is transferred to the zygotic genome in a process called the maternal to zygotic transition (MZT). During this time maternal RNAs are degraded and zygotic RNAs are transcribed1. A long standing question has been, what factors regulate these events? The recent findings that microRNAs and Smaugs mediate maternal transcript degradation brought new life to this old problem2,3, however, the transcription factors that activate zygotic gene expression remained elusive. A clue came from the finding that many early zygotic genes in Drosophila share a cis-regulatory heptamer motif, CAGGTAG and related sequences, collectively referred to as TAG-team sites4,5. We asked whether there was a dedicated transcription factor that interacts with these sites to activate early genes. Here we report the discovery of a zinc-finger protein, Zelda (Zld) that binds specifically to TAG-team sites, and is capable of activating transcription in transient transfection assays. Mutant embryos lacking zld are defective in the cellularization process, and fail to activate the transcription of many early zygotic genes involved in cellularization, sex determination, and dorsoventral patterning. Global expression profiling confirmed that Zld plays a key role in the activation of the early zygotic genome, and suggests that Zld may also play a role in maternal RNA degradation during the MZT since many RNAs are up-regulated in the absence of Zld. Experiment Overall Design: Total RNA samples were extracted from three replicate collections of 1-2 hr yw and M- zld embryos by TRIzol (invitrogen). A portion of the collected embryos was fixed and stained with DAPI; 90% were in nuclear cycles 8 to13. cDNA was prepared using the GeneChip® HT One-Cycle cDNA Synthesis Kit (Manufactured by Invitrogen for Affymetrix) and labeled with the BioArray⢠HighYield⢠RNA Transcript Labeling Kit (Enzo). Labeled probes were hybridized to Drosophila Genome 2 Affymetrix arrays and processed by a GeneChip Fluidics Station 400. Data were acquired and normalized by the GeneChip® Scanner 3000 and processed by the Affymetrix GeneChip Operating Software (GCOS). t-test analysis was performed on the data from three biological replicates.
Project description:Microarray analysis of zygotic gene expression in 2-to-3 hour wild-type (wt) and smg mutant embryos. Expression is relative to mature, stage 14 oocytes, which contain the full maternal pool of mRNA. Strictly maternal genes that are not transcribed at the MZT contribute approximately 80% of transcripts in early embryos, and are not shown. Class I zygotic genes showed high levels of expression in 2-to-3 hour embryos. 142 of the 166 Class I genes were not expressed in smg mutants. The remaining zygotically expressed genes were also present in oocytes. These genes were divided into two classes, based on analysis of 4-to-6 hour old unfertilized eggs (4-6h unf), which are transcriptionally inactive. Class-II genes produce maternal transcripts that are stable in unfertilized eggs and show significantly increased expression in 2-to-3 hour post-fertilization embryos. 358 of 395 Class-II genes require SMAUG for zygotic expression. Class-III genes produce maternal transcripts that are degraded in unfertilized eggs and show significantly increased expression in 2-to-3 hour post-fertilization embryos. 65 of 408 Class-III genes require SMAUG for expression in 2-to-3 hour embryos.