ZIC2 and ZIC3 promote SWI/SNF recruitment to safeguard progression towards human primed pluripotency [ATAC-Seq]
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: ZIC2 and ZIC3 are essential for acquisition and maintenance of primed pluripotency. In this study, we conducted ATAC-seq in single and compound knockout of ZIC2, ZIC3 and ZIC5 primed hESCs, naïve hESCs lacking ZIC3 that inducibly express ZIC2, naive hESCs that inducible express ZIC2 or ZIC3, ZIC3-depleted primed hESCs that were cultured in 5iLAF medium for six days and undergoing reversion to a naive state, naive hESCs expressing ectopic ZIC2 in the presence of a BRG1 PROTAC.
Project description:ZIC2 and ZIC3 are essential for acquisition and maintenance of primed pluripotency. In this study, we conducted next generation sequencing of polyA-enriched bulk RNA in single and compound knockouts of ZIC2, ZIC3 and ZIC5 primed hESCs, naïve hESCs lacking ZIC3 that inducibly express ZIC2, and primed hESCs that were cultured in 5iLAF medium for six days and undergoing reversion to a naive state.
Project description:ZIC2 and ZIC3 are essential for acquisition and maintenance of primed pluripotency. In this study, we profiled chromatin occupancy of BRG1, EZH2, H3K27ac and H3K4me3 upon concomitant loss of ZIC2 and ZIC3 in primed hESCs, and of BRG1 upon ectopic expression of ZIC2 for increasing periods of time in naïve hESCs.
Project description:The primed epiblast acts as a transitional stage between the relatively homogeneous naïve epiblast and the gastrulating embryo. Its formation entails coordinated changes in regulatory circuits driven by strict epigenetic mechanisms. Using a multi-omic approach in human embryonic stem cell models across the spectrum of peri-implantation development, we demonstrate that the transcription factors ZIC2 and ZIC3 have overlapping but essential roles in opening primed-specific enhancers. Together they are essential to facilitate progression to and maintain primed pluripotency. ZIC2/3 achieve their function by recruiting SWI/SNF to chromatin and loss of ZIC2/3 or degradation of SWI/SNF both prevent enhancer activation. Loss of ZIC2/3 results in transcriptome changes consistent with perturbed Polycomb activity and a shift towards the expression of genes linked to mesendoderm differentiation. Additionally, we find an intriguing dependency on the transcriptional machinery for sustained recruitment of ZIC2/3 over a subset of primed-hESC specific enhancers. Taken together, ZIC2 and ZIC3 regulate highly dynamic lineage-specific enhancers and collectively act as key regulators of human primed pluripotency.
Project description:The Zinc finger protein of the cerebellum 2 (Zic2) is one of the vertebrate homologs of the Drosophila pair-rule gene odd-paired (opa). Our molecular and biochemical studies have demonstrated that Zic2 to preferentially bind to transcriptional enhancers and functions as a cofactor that interacts with the NuRD complex in ES cells. Detailed genome-wide studies demonstrate that Zic2 function with Mbd3/NuRD in regulating the chromatin state and transcriptional output of genes linked to differentiation. Zic2 is dispensable for the selfrenewal of ES cells but is required for proper differentiation, similar to what has been previously reported for Mbd3/NuRD. Our study identifies Zic2 as a key factor in the execution of the pluripotency program with Mbd3/NuRD in ES cells. ChIP-seq of Zic2, Chd4, Mbd3 and Zic3 in mES cells. ChIP-seq of H3K27me3, H3K27ac, H3K4me3, H3K4me1 and PolII in mES cells after Zic2 shRNA and non-targeting shRNA. RNA-seq of mES cells after Zic2, Zic3, Mbd3 and Mta2 shRNA and non-targeting shRNA.
Project description:Transcription factor ZIC2 plays a pro-tumorigenic role in several human cancers. Herein, we demonstrate that elevated ZIC2 expression was associated with lower overall and post-progression survival of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients. Knockout of ZIC2 in EOC cells attenuated tumorigenic phenotypes in vitro and in vivo, indicating a pro-tumorigenic role for ZIC2 in EOC. On the other hand, however, overexpression of ZIC2 in EOC cells that do not express endogenous ZIC2 promoted cell migration and sphere formation, but inhibited cell growth and colony formation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo, indicating a context-dependent function for ZIC2 in EOC. Transcriptomic study showed that ZIC2-regulated genes were involved in multiple biological processes and signaling pathways associated with tumor progression and that ZIC2 regulated common or distinct genes in ZIC2 knockout and overexpression models, which explains the consistency and discrepancy in ZIC2 functions observed in the two models. In conclusion, our findings reveal a context-dependent role for ZIC2 in regulating tumorigenic phenotypes in EOC, providing evidence that ZIC2 can be a potential therapeutic target for EOCs that express a high level of ZIC2.