Transcription factor Zbtb1 interacts with bridging factor Lmo2 and maintains the T-lineage differentiation capacity of lymphoid progenitor cells
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ABSTRACT: Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are able to differentiate into all blood cell types. Regulatory mechanisms underlying pluripotency in progenitors, such as the ability of lymphoid progenitor cells to differentiate into T-lineage, are not fully understood. We have previously reported that Lmo2, a bridging factor in large transcriptional complexes, is essential to retain the ability of lymphoid progenitors to differentiate into T-lineage. However, biochemical characterization of Lmo2 protein complexes in physiological hematopoietic progenitors has remained obscure. In this study, we identified around 600 of Lmo2 interacting molecules in a lymphoid progenitor cell line by two-step affinity purification with LC-MS/MS analysis. Among them, we found that Zbtb1 and Cbfa2t3 are functionally important binding partners of Lmo2. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated acute disruption of Zbtb1 or Cbfa2t3 in a lymphoid progenitor line or BM-derived primary hematopoietic progenitors caused significant defects in the initiation of T cell development when Notch signal is activated. Transcriptome analysis of Zbtb1- or Cbfa2t3-deficient lymphoid progenitors reveled that Tcf7, one the earliest Notch-target genes, is a common target of both factors. ChIP-seq analysis clearly showed that Lmo2, Zbtb1 and Cbfa2t3 co-bind to the Tcf7 upstream enhancer region, where is occupied by Notch intracellular domain/RBPJ transcriptional complex after Notch stimulation, in lymphoid progenitors. Moreover, transduction of Tcf7 restored the defect in the T-lineage potential of Zbtb1-deficient lymphoid progenitor cells. Thus, in lymphoid progenitors, Lmo2/Zbtb1/Cbfa2t3 complex directly binds to the Tcf7 locus and maintains responsiveness to the Notch-mediated inductive signaling for the T-lineage program.
Project description:Notch signaling primarily determines T-cell fate. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the maintenance of T-lineage potential in pre-thymic progenitors remain unclear. Here, we established two Ebf1-deficient pro-B cell lines, with and without T-lineage potential. The latter expressed lower levels of Lmo2; their potential was restored via ectopic expression of Lmo2. Conversely, the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion of Lmo2 resulted in the loss of the T-lineage potential. Introduction of Bcl2 rescued massive cell death of Notch-stimulated pro-B cells without efficient LMO2-driven Bcl11a expression but was not sufficient to retain their T-lineage potential. Pro-B cells without T-lineage potential failed to activate Tcf7 due to DNA methylation; Tcf7 transduction restored this capacity. Moreover, direct binding of LMO2 to the Bcl11a and Tcf7 loci was observed. Altogether, our results highlight LMO2 as a crucial player in the survival and maintenance of T-lineage potential in T-cell progenitors via the regulation of the expression of Bcl11a and Tcf7.
Project description:Purpose: Deficiency of Zbtb1 leads to the generation of myeloid cells from lymphoid progenitors when cultured in conditions that do not support myeloid development. We therefore analyzed how was the transcriptional signature altered by Zbtb1 deficiency in lymphoid progenitors ex vivo and after induction of a T-cell developmental program by co-culture with OP9-DL1 stroma cells.
Project description:Transcription factor Zbtb1 interacts with bridging factor Lmo2 and maintains the T-lineage differentiation capacity of lymphoid progenitor cells
Project description:It was reported that Ebf1-deficient hematopoietic progenitor cells were expandable on OP9 stromal cells in the presence of SCF, Flt3L and IL7, and maintained with the potential for the differentiation into other hematopoietic lineages including T cells with Notch signaling. In contrast, we found that those on thymic stromal cells were similarly expanded but gradually lost their potential to T cell lineage. To know the molecular machinery to retain their potential, we compared their profiles of the transcripts by microarray analysis. Expression of three genes (Meis1, Hmga2 and Lmo2) from this signature was quantified in the same RNA samples by real-time PCR, confirming their difference in the stemness-related genes. It was revealed that Lmo2 is responsible for the maintenance of T-cell differentiation potential among them. Thereafter, the expression profiles were also compared between Ebf1-deficient pro-B cell lines without the potential and their enforced transfectants of Lmo2, showing the downstream targets of Lmo2 in early lymphoid progenitor cells.
Project description:Epigenetic modifications must underlie lineage-specific differentiation since terminally differentiated cells express tissue-specific genes, but their DNA sequence is unchanged. Hematopoiesis provides a well-defined model of progressive differentiation in which to study the role of epigenetic modifications in cell fate decisions. Multi-potent progenitors (MPPs) can differentiate into all blood cell lineages, while downstream progenitors commit to either myeloerythroid or lymphoid lineages. While DNA methylation is critical for myeloid versus lymphoid differentiation, as demonstrated by the myeloerythroid bias in Dnmt1 hypomorphs {Broske, 2009 #6}, a comprehensive DNA methylation map of hematopoietic progenitors, or of any cell lineage, does not exist. Here we have generated a mouse DNA methylation map, examining 4.6 million CpG sites throughout the genome including all CpG islands and shores, examining MPPs, all lymphoid progenitors (ALPs), common myeloid progenitors (CMPs), granulocyte/macrophage progenitors (GMPs), and thymocyte progenitors (DN1, DN2, DN3). Interestingly, differentiation towards the myeloid lineage corresponds with a net decrease in DNA methylation, while lymphoid commitment involves a net increase in DNA methylation, but both show substantial dynamic changes consistent with epigenetic plasticity during development. By comparing lineage-specific DNA methylation to gene expression array data, we find many examples of genes and pathways not previously known to be involved in lymphoid/myeloid differentiation, such as Gcnt2, Arl4c, Gadd45α, and Jdp2. Several transcription factors, including Meis1 and Prdm16 were methylated and silenced during differentiation, suggesting a role in maintaining an undifferentiated state. Additionally, epigenetic modification of modifiers of the epigenome appears to be important in hematopoietic differentiation. Our results directly demonstrate that modulation of DNA methylation occurs during lineage-specific differentiation, often correlating with gene expression changes, and define a comprehensive map of the methylation and transcriptional changes that accompany myeloid versus lymphoid fate decisions. mRNA expression of 8 hematopoietic progenitor populations [MPPFL-(5), MPPFL+(3), CMP(3), GMP(3), CLP(3), DN1(3), DN2(3), DN3(3)] were compared
Project description:The intestinal epithelium is replaced weekly by non-quiescent stem cells with kinetics that rely on a rapid loss of stemness and choice for secretory or absorptive lineage differentiation. To determine how the cellular transcriptome and proteome changes during these transitions, we developed a new cell sorting method to purify stem cells, secretory and absorptive progenitor cells, and mature, differentiated cells. Transcriptome analyses revealed that as stem cells transition to the progenitor stage, alternative mRNA splicing and polyadenylation dominate changes in the transcriptome. In contrast, as progenitors differentiate into mature cell types, alterations in gene expression and mRNA levels drive the changes. RNA processing targets mRNAs encoding regulators of cell cycle, RNA regulators, cell adhesion, SUMOylation, and Wnt and Notch signaling. Additionally, carrier-assisted mass spectrometry of sorted cell populations detected >2,800 proteins and revealed RNA:protein patterns of abundance and correlation. Paired together, these data highlight new potentials for autocrine and feedback regulation and provide new insights into cell state transitions in the crypt.
Project description:While most blood lineages are assumed to mature through a single cellular and developmental route downstream of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), dendritic cells (DCs) can be derived from both myeloid and lymphoid progenitors in vivo. To determine how distinct progenitors can generate similar downstream lineages, we examined the transcriptional changes that accompany loss of in vivo myeloid potential as common myeloid progenitors (CMPs) differentiate into common dendritic cell progenitors (CDPs), and as lymphoid-primed multipotent progenitors (LMPPs) differentiate into all lymphoid progenitors (ALPs). Microarray studies revealed that Interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF-8) expression increased during each of these transitions. Competitive reconstitutions using Irf8-/- bone marrow demonstrated cell-intrinsic defects in the formation of CDPs and all splenic dendritic cell subsets. Irf8-/- CMPs and, unexpectedly, Irf8-/- ALPs produced more neutrophils in vivo than their wild type counterparts at the expense of DCs. Retroviral expression of IRF-8 in multiple progenitors led to reduced neutrophil production and increased numbers of DCs, even in the granulocyte-macrophage progenitor (GMP), which does not normally possess conventional DC potential. These data suggest that IRF-8 represses a neutrophil module of development and promotes convergent DC development from multiple lymphoid and myeloid progenitors autonomously of cellular context. CMP (Lineage-c-kithiSca-1-CD11c- CD34+ Flk2+CD16/32-CD115- ) or CDP (Lin-c-kitintSca-1-CD34+Flk2+CD16/32-CD115+) were double sorted from the bone marrow of wild type C57BL/6 mice. RNA was extracted from 10,000-30,000 sorted cells using Trizol (Invitrogen) and linear acrylamide (Ambion), amplified using Affymetrix Two-Cycle Amplification and IVT kits (Affymetrix), and hybridized to Affymetrix Mouse Genome 430 2.0 chips.
Project description:While most blood lineages are assumed to mature through a single cellular and developmental route downstream of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), dendritic cells (DCs) can be derived from both myeloid and lymphoid progenitors in vivo. To determine how distinct progenitors can generate similar downstream lineages, we examined the transcriptional changes that accompany loss of in vivo myeloid potential as common myeloid progenitors (CMPs) differentiate into common dendritic cell progenitors (CDPs), and as lymphoid-primed multipotent progenitors (LMPPs) differentiate into all lymphoid progenitors (ALPs). Microarray studies revealed that Interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF-8) expression increased during each of these transitions. Competitive reconstitutions using Irf8-/- bone marrow demonstrated cell-intrinsic defects in the formation of CDPs and all splenic dendritic cell subsets. Irf8-/- CMPs and, unexpectedly, Irf8-/- ALPs produced more neutrophils in vivo than their wild type counterparts at the expense of DCs. Retroviral expression of IRF-8 in multiple progenitors led to reduced neutrophil production and increased numbers of DCs, even in the granulocyte-macrophage progenitor (GMP), which does not normally possess conventional DC potential. These data suggest that IRF-8 represses a neutrophil module of development and promotes convergent DC development from multiple lymphoid and myeloid progenitors autonomously of cellular context. CMP (Lineage-c-kithiSca-1-CD11c- CD34+ Flk2+CD16/32-CD115- ) or ALP (Lin-Ly6D-B220-c-kit+Flk2+IL7R?+) were double sorted from the bone marrow of wild type C57BL/6 mice. RNA was extracted from 2,000-15,000 sorted cells using Qiagen RNeasy Mini kit, amplified using Nugen pico-amplification kit , and 750 ng of aRNA was hybridized to Illumina MouseRef-8 v 2.0 bead chips Amy,M,Becker
Project description:Growth factor independent 1 (Gfi1) is a transcriptional repressor originally identified as a common integration site in Moloney-murine-leukemia-virus-induced T-cell leukemia. Gfi1-/- mice display increased apoptosis of developing thymocytes and T lymphopenia; however, there are contradictory reports of the absolute number of Gfi1-/- early T lineage progenitors. We used floxed alleles of Gfi1 crossed to various T-cell-specific Cre transgenes to map the requirements for Gfi1 during lymphoid priming and development. We show that Gfi1 is necessary for the proper formation and function of both lymphoid-primed multipotent progenitors and early T lineage progenitors. These defects correlate with a global inability of Gfi1-/- progenitors to enforce the activation of lymphoid genes including IL7R, Rag1, Flt3 and Notch1. Forced expression of intracellular Notch1 fails to rescue the Gfi1-/- defective lymphoid gene signature or Gfi1-/- T cell development. Instead, activation of Notch1 in Gfi1-/- cells results in a potent synthetic lethal phenotype that is most dramatic in immature thymocytes, but absent in mature peripheral T cells where developmental transcriptional programs are silent. Moreover, we find that the requirement for Gfi1-transcriptional integration of Notch-driven lymphoid transcriptional programs is cell autonomous. Our data indicate that Gfi1 is required at multiple independent stages of lymphoid development. In hematopoietic progenitors Gfi1 is necessary to integrate Notch1 signaling, mediate lymphoid priming, the formation of early T lineage progenitors and subsequent T lineage commitment. Lineage negative cells were purified by magnetic beads from RosaCreERT2 Gfi1 ex4-5 floxed mice and an activated Notch1 signal was introduced using a GFP+ retroviral vector. GFP+ progenitors were FACS-sorted and cultured in semi-solid media for one week to allow sufficient time to to instruct lymphoid differentiation, then replated in 1uM 4-OHT or EtOH control. After an additional 7 days, CFU were disrupted and RNA was isolated for global gene expression using microarrays.