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DNA Methylation Restricts Lineage-Specific Functions of Transcription Factor Gata4 during Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation

ABSTRACT: DNA methylation changes dynamically during development and is essential for embryogenesis in mammals. However, how DNA methylation affects developmental gene expression and cell differentiation remains elusive. During embryogenesis, many key transcription factors are used repeatedly, triggering different outcomes depending on the cell type and developmental stage. Here, we report that DNA methylation modulates transcription-factor output in the context of cell differentiation. Using a drug-inducible Gata4 system and a mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell model of mesoderm differentiation, we examined the cellular response to Gata4 in ES and mesoderm cells. The activation of Gata4 in ES cells is known to drive their differentiation to endoderm. We show that the differentiation of wild-type ES cells into mesoderm blocks their Gata4-induced endoderm differentiation, while mesoderm cells derived from ES cells that are deficient in the DNA methyltransferases Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b can retain their response to Gata4, allowing lineage conversion from mesoderm cells to endoderm in part. Transcriptome analysis of the cells' response to Gata4 over time revealed groups of endoderm and mesoderm developmental genes whose expression was induced by Gata4 only when DNA methylation was lost, suggesting that DNA methylation restricts the ability of these genes to respond to Gata4, rather than controlling their transcription per se. Our data indicate that epigenetic regulation by DNA methylation functions as a heritable safeguard to prevent transcription factors from activating inappropriate downstream genes, thereby contributing to the restriction of the differentiation potential of somatic cells.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE36313 | GEO | 2013/06/24

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA153351

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:DNA methylation changes dynamically during development and is essential for embryogenesis in mammals. However, how DNA methylation affects developmental gene expression and cell differentiation remains elusive. During embryogenesis, many key transcription factors are used repeatedly, triggering different outcomes depending on the cell type and developmental stage. Here, we report that DNA methylation modulates transcription-factor output in the context of cell differentiation. Using a drug-inducible Gata4 system and a mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell model of mesoderm differentiation, we examined the cellular response to Gata4 in ES and mesoderm cells. The activation of Gata4 in ES cells is known to drive their differentiation to endoderm. We show that the differentiation of wild-type ES cells into mesoderm blocks their Gata4-induced endoderm differentiation, while mesoderm cells derived from ES cells that are deficient in the DNA methyltransferases Dnmt3a and Dnmt3b can retain their response to Gata4, allowing lineage conversion from mesoderm cells to endoderm in part. Transcriptome analysis of the cells' response to Gata4 over time revealed groups of endoderm and mesoderm developmental genes whose expression was induced by Gata4 only when DNA methylation was lost, suggesting that DNA methylation restricts the ability of these genes to respond to Gata4, rather than controlling their transcription per se. Our data indicate that epigenetic regulation by DNA methylation functions as a heritable safeguard to prevent transcription factors from activating inappropriate downstream genes, thereby contributing to the restriction of the differentiation potential of somatic cells. To understand how mouse cells differentially respond to Gata4 in cell type- and DNA methylation-dependent manners and to examine what genes are differentially regulated, we analyzed temporal change of gene expression profile in response to Gata4 in ES or Flk1(+) mesoderm cells in WT and Dnmt3a-/-Dnmt3b-/- (DKO) background, in total 108 samples.

Project description:Embryogenesis is tightly regulated by multiple levels of epigenetic systems such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and chromatin remodeling. DNA methylation patterns are erased in primordial germ cells and in the interval immediately following fertilization. Subsequent reprogramming occurs by de novo methylation and demethylation. Variance of DNA methylation patterns between different cell types is not well understood. Here, using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation and tiling array technology, we have comprehensively analysed DNA methylation patterns at proximal promoter regions in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, ES cell-derived early germ layers (ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm) and four adult tissues (brain, liver, skeletal muscle and sperm). Most of the methylated regions in the three germ layers and in the three adult somatic tissues are shared in common. This commonly methylated gene set is enriched in germ cell associated genes that are generally transcriptionally inactive in somatic cells. We also compared DNA methylation patterns with global mapping of histone H3 lysine 4/27 trimethylation, and found that gain of DNA methylation correlates with loss of histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation. Taken together, our findings indicate that differentiation from ES cells to the three germ layers is accompanied by an increase in the number of commonly methylated DNA regions and that these tissue-specific alterations are present for only a small number of genes. Our findings indicate that DNA methylation at the proximal promoter regions of commonly methylated genes act as an irreversible mark which fixes somatic lineage by repressing transcription of germ cell specific genes. Using the MeDIP on chip protocol, we immunoprecipitated methylated DNA from R1 ES cell, SK7 cell, as well as SK7 derived-Ectoderm, - Endoderm, -Paraxial mesoderm, brain, liver, skeletal muscle, and sperm, and hybridized to a genome tiling array. The three germ layer lineages from ES cells were confirmed by the expression of specific marker genes in each germ layer (see related expression analysis).

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DNA Methylation Restricts Lineage-Specific Functions of Transcription Factor Gata4 during Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation

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