Project description:Mammalian brains are highly conserved at both the neuroanatomical and gene expression levels. However, the subplate is a neocortical subregion distinguished by a markedly different developmental trajectory among primates compared to other mammals. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms driving these species differences in subplate development remain mostly unknown. Here, we show that human FOXP2, a transcription factor important for speech and language, regulates gene expression programs consistent with subplate neuron expression patterns. These transcriptional profiles have unique overlaps with in vivo data from human fetal brain. We also distinguish DNA-dependent and DNA-independent mechanisms for human FOXP2 to repress patterns of germinal zone expression and promote excitatory neuron gene expression patterns.
Project description:We observed different gene expression by overexpressing the transcription factor FOXP2 in U2OS cells compared to mock-transfected cells. Additionally, we found β-catenin as co-activator binding directly to FOXP2. Activation of Wnt signaling was changing the transcriptional activity of FOXP2. Other functional and regulatory elements were found within FOXP2 and were confirmed by RNA-Seq.
Project description:The signaling pathways orchestrating both the evolution and development of language in the human brain remain unknown. To date, the transcription factor FOXP2 is the only gene implicated in Mendelian forms of human speech and language dysfunction1,2. It has been proposed, that the amino acid composition in the human variant of FOXP2 has undergone accelerated evolution, and this change occurred around the time of language emergence in humans3,4. However, this remains controversial, and whether the acquisition of these amino acids in human FOXP2 has any functional consequence in human neurons remains untested. Here, we demonstrate that these two amino acids confer new functionality in terms of differential transcriptional regulation, and extend these observations to in vivo brain, showing that several of the differential FOXP2 targets significantly overlap with genes different between human and chimpanzee brain. We also identify novel relationships among the differentially expressed genes with additional critical regulators of neuronal development. These data provide support for the functional relevance of changes that occur on the human lineage by showing that the two amino acids unique to human FOXP2 can lead to significant differences in gene expression patterns across brain evolution, with direct consequences for human brain development and disease. Since FOXP2 has an important role in the use of language in humans, the identified targets may have a critical function in the development and evolution of language circuitry in humans.
Project description:Mutations in FOXP2, a member of the forkhead family of transcription factors, are the only known cause of developmental speech and language disorders in humans. To date, there are no known targets of human FOXP2 in the nervous system. The identification of FOXP2 targets in the developing human brain therefore provides a unique tool with which to explore the development of human language and speech. Here we define FOXP2 targets in human basal ganglia (BG) and inferior frontal cortex (IFC) utilizing chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by microarray analysis (ChIP-chip) and validate the functional regulation of targets in vitro. ChIP-chip identified 285 FOXP2 targets in fetal human brain; significant overlap of targets in BG and IFC, indicate a core set of 34 transcriptional targets of FOXP2. We identified targets specific to the IFC or BG, not observed in lung, suggesting important regional and tissue differences in FOXP2 activity. Many target genes are known to play critical roles in specific aspects of CNS patterning or development, such as neurite outgrowth, as well as plasticity. Subsets of the FOXP2 transcriptional targets are either under positive selection in humans, or differentially expressed between human and chimpanzee brain. This is the first ChIP-chip study using human brain tissue, making the FOXP2 target genes identified in these studies important to understanding the pathways regulating speech and language in the developing human brain. These data provide the first insight into the functional network of genes directly regulated by FOXP2 in human brain and by evolutionary comparisons, highlight genes likely to be involved in the development of human higher order cognitive processes. Keywords: ChIP-chip
Project description:To study the underlying mechanism of tumor initation driven by FOXP2, we performed transcriptome analysis of transformed NIH3T3 overexpressing FOXP2 or FOXP2-CEPD1 and control cells to explore the FOXP2-related transcriptome in tumorigenesis.
Project description:It has been proposed that two amino acid substitutions in the transcription factor FOXP2 have been positively selected during human evolution due to effects on aspects of speech and language. Here, we introduce these substitutions into the endogenous Foxp2 gene.of mice. Although these mice are generally healthy, they have qualitatively different ultrasonic vocalizations, decreased exploratory behavior and decreased dopamine concentrations in the brain suggesting an effect of the humanized Foxp2 allele on basal ganglia. In the striatum, a part of the basal ganglia that is affected in humans with a speech deficit due to one non-functional FOXP2 allele, we find that medium spiny neurons have increased dendrite lengths and increased synaptic plasticity. Since mice carrying one non-functional Foxp2 allele show opposite effects, this suggests that alterations in cortico-basal ganglia circuits might have been important for the evolution of speech and language in humans. In this particular experiment, we investigate the effects of human Foxp2 (Foxp2hum) and the non-functional Foxp2 allele on striatal gene expression in embryonic, young and adult mice. We determined genome-wide gene expression patterns in striatal biopsies from Foxp2hum/hum, Foxp2wt/ko and Foxp2wt/wt mice using high-density oligonucleotide arrays. The animals were derived from two independent FoxP2 knock-in strains and one knock-out strain. In total 71 animals were used, 29 males and 42 females. The mice ages were E16.5, P15, P18, P21 and P95 when sacrificed. The microarrays were processed in totally six batches.
Project description:Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase p110 delta (PI3Kp110δ) is pivotal for CD8+ T cell immune responses. To inform how PI3Kp110δ regulates CD8+ T cells, the current study focuses on PI3Kp110δ controlled transcriptional programs and reveals how PI3Kp110δ selectively induces and represses expression of key genes that create a cytotoxic T cell (CTL). The data identify differences in PI3Kp110δ regulated transcriptional programs between naïve and cytotoxic T cells including differential control of cytolytic effector molecules, costimulatory receptors and the critical inhibitory receptors CTLA4 and SLAMF6. However, common to both naïve and effector cells is PI3Kp110δ control of the production of chemokines and cytokines that orchestrate communication between the adaptive and innate immune system. The study provides a comprehensive resource for understanding how PI3Kp110δ uses multiple mechanisms dependent on Protein Kinase B/AKT, FOXO1 dependent and independent mechanisms and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) to direct CD8+ T cell fate.