Project description:Peripheral nerves are characterized by the ability to regenerate after injury. The activity of Schwann cells is fundamental for all steps of peripheral nerve regeneration: immediately after injury they de-differentiate, remove myelin debris, proliferate and repopulate the injured nerve. Neuregulin1 (NRG1) is a factor strongly up-regulated and released by Schwann cells immediately after nerve injury, known to play an important role for their de-differentiation, proliferation and survival. Nevertheless, up to now, the global analysis of the genes regulated by NRG1 was not performed. For this reason, we planned a deep RNA sequencing to generate a transcriptome database and identify all the genes regulated following stimulation of primary adult rat Schwann cells with soluble recombinant NRG1. Interestingly, the gene ontology analysis of the transcriptome shows that NRG1 regulates genes belonging to categories strongly regulated in the peripheral nerve immediately following injury. In particular, NRG1 strongly inhibits the expression of genes involved in myelination and in glial cell differentiation, suggesting that NRG1 plays a fundamental role in the de-differentiation (or “trans-differentiation”) process of Schwann cells from a myelinating to a repair phenotype. Moreover, NRG1 inhibits genes involved in the apoptotic process, therefore promoting cell survival, and up-regulates genes positively regulating the ribosomal RNA processing, thus suggesting that NRG1 actively stimulates new protein expression. This transcriptome analysis demonstrates that NRG1, which is strongly up-regulated immediately after injury, drives the expression of many important genes, thus playing a major role in the regeneration process.
Project description:Myelination of neuronal axons is essential for nervous system development. Myelination requires dramatic cytoskeletal dynamics in oligodendrocytes, but how actin is regulated during myelination is poorly understood. We recently identified serum response factor (SRF)—a transcription factor known to regulate expression of actin and actin regulators in other cell types—as a critical driver of myelination in the aged brain. Yet, a major gap remains in understanding the fundamental role of SRF in oligodendrocyte lineage cells. Here we show that SRF is required cell autonomously in oligodendrocytes for myelination during development. Combining ChIP-seq with RNA-seq identifies SRF-target genes in OPCs and oligodendrocytes that include actin and other key cytoskeletal genes. Accordingly, SRF knockout oligodendrocytes exhibit dramatically reduced actin filament levels early in differentiation, consistent with its role in actin-dependent myelin sheath initiation. Together, our findings identify SRF as a transcriptional regulator that controls the expression of cytoskeletal genes required in oligodendrocytes for myelination. This study identifies a novel pathway regulating oligodendrocyte biology with high relevance to brain development, aging, and disease.
Project description:Axonal myelination is essential for neuronal function and health. In peripheral nerves, deficient myelination is responsible for the morbidity of various forms of inherited or acquired neuropathies, including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and diabetic neuropathy. Decades of research have uncovered a complex transcriptional and post-transcriptional program that co-ordinates the formation and maintenance of the myelin sheath. In contrast, much less is known about the functional role of post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins in this remarkable biogenic process. Neddylation, a PTM that involves the conjugation of the ubiquitin-like protein Nedd8 to protein targets, has recently emerged as a central and versatile regulator of many cellular processes, including gene transcription, metabolism, and cellular differentiation. In this study, we show that genetic and pharmacological inhibition of neddylation in vivo in developing Schwann cells lead to striking nerve defects that exhibit the classical hallmarks of a severe neuropathy, including gait abnormalities, muscle weakness, and hindlimb clasping, ultimately leading to early death. The mutant mice lack peripheral myelin and develop secondary axonal loss, and we demonstrate, at the mechanistic level, that neddylation regulates multiple critical myelination-related pathways. Together, our findings identify neddylation as a central regulatory hub of control of peripheral myelination and delineate the potential pathogenetic mechanisms in inherited human PNS disorders, characterized by mutations in genes related to the neddylation pathway.
Project description:Myelination is essential for neuronal function and health. In peripheral nerves, >100 causative mutations have been identified that cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a disorder that can affect myelin sheaths. Among these, a number of mutations are related to essential targets of the post-translation modification neddylation, although how these lead to myelin defects is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that inhibiting neddylation leads to a striking absence of peripheral myelin and axonal loss both in developing and regenerating mouse nerves. Importantly, our data indicate that neddylation exerts a global influence on the complex transcriptional and post-transcriptional program by simultaneously regulating the expression and function of multiple essential myelination signals, including the master transcription factor EGR2 and the negative regulators c-Jun and Sox2, and inducing global secondary changes in downstream pathways, including the mTOR and YAP/TAZ signalling pathways. This places neddylation as a critical regulator of myelination and delineates the potential pathogenic mechanisms involved in CMT mutations related to neddylation.
Project description:The transcriptional control of CNS myelin gene expression is poorly understood. Here we identify gene model 98, which we have named Myelin-gene Regulatory Factor (MRF), as a transcriptional regulator required for CNS myelination. Within the CNS, MRF is specifically expressed by postmitotic oligodendrocytes. MRF is a nuclear protein containing an evolutionarily conserved DNA binding domain homologous to a yeast transcription factor. Knockdown of MRF in oligodendrocytes by RNA interference prevents expression of most CNS myelin genes; conversely, overexpression of MRF within cultured oligodendrocyte progenitors or the chick spinal cord promotes expression of myelin genes. In mice lacking MRF within the oligodendrocyte lineage, pre-myelinating oligodendrocytes are generated but display severe deficits in myelin gene expression and fail to myelinate. These mice display severe neurological abnormalities, and die due to seizures during the third postnatal week. These findings establish MRF as a critical transcriptional regulator essential for oligodendrocyte maturation and CNS myelination. We used microarrays to compare cultured oligodendrocytes (differentiated in vitro for 4 days) from MRF conditional knockouts and control litteramates to look at the effects of MRF deficiency on myelin gene expression. Mouse OPCs grown in vitro in the presence of PDGF serve as a baseline for gene expression prior to differentiation.
Project description:Myelination of neuronal axons is essential for nervous system development. Myelination requires dramatic cytoskeletal dynamics in oligodendrocytes, but how actin is regulated during myelination is poorly understood. We recently identified serum response factor (SRF)—a transcription factor known to regulate expression of actin and actin regulators in other cell types—as a critical driver of myelination in the aged brain. Yet, a major gap remains in understanding the fundamental role of SRF in oligodendrocyte lineage cells. Here we show that SRF is required cell autonomously in oligodendrocytes for myelination during development. Combining ChIP-seq with RNA-seq identifies SRF-target genes in OPCs and oligodendrocytes that include actin and other key cytoskeletal genes. Accordingly, SRF knockout oligodendrocytes exhibit dramatically reduced actin filament levels early in differentiation, consistent with its role in actin-dependent myelin sheath initiation. Together, our findings identify SRF as a transcriptional regulator that controls the expression of cytoskeletal genes required in oligodendrocytes for myelination. This study identifies a novel pathway regulating oligodendrocyte biology with high relevance to brain development, aging, and disease.
Project description:Myelination of neuronal axons is essential for nervous system development. Myelination requires dramatic cytoskeletal dynamics in oligodendrocytes, but how actin is regulated during myelination is poorly understood. We recently identified serum response factor (SRF)—a transcription factor known to regulate expression of actin and actin regulators in other cell types—as a critical driver of myelination in the aged brain. Yet, a major gap remains in understanding the fundamental role of SRF in oligodendrocyte lineage cells. Here we show that SRF is required cell autonomously in oligodendrocytes for myelination during development. Combining ChIP-seq with RNA-seq identifies SRF-target genes in OPCs and oligodendrocytes that include actin and other key cytoskeletal genes. Accordingly, SRF knockout oligodendrocytes exhibit dramatically reduced actin filament levels early in differentiation, consistent with its role in actin-dependent myelin sheath initiation. Together, our findings identify SRF as a transcriptional regulator that controls the expression of cytoskeletal genes required in oligodendrocytes for myelination. This study identifies a novel pathway regulating oligodendrocyte biology with high relevance to brain development, aging, and disease.