ABSTRACT: Human podocytes were transduced with mouse YAP, with mouse YAP 112A and with empty vector using lentiviral gene transfer. Effects of YAP were measured by quantitative proteomics.
Project description:We generated two mouse podocyte cell lines stably transduced with either a shControl lentiviral construct or a shRNA lentiviral construct designed to target Tug1 RNA to investigate the consequences on the gene expression profile of Tug1 knockdown in differentiated mouse podocytes
Project description:The two effector proteins of the Hippo signaling pathway, YAP and TAZ, play a pivotal role in the cellular homeostasis of podocytes and in the pathogenesis of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). We aim to unravel the unique and redundant functions of YAP and TAZ in the podocyte by identifying podocyte-specific interactors. We generated stable heat sensitive mouse podocytes (hsMPs) carrying a single copy integration of a transgenic construct expressing a flagged version of mouse Yap (3XFLAG.YAP), Taz (3XFLAG.TAZ) or Ruby (3XFLAG.RUBY) in the Rosa26 locus. To explore the interactome of YAP and TAZ in podocytes we immunoprecipitated the tagged proteins and characterized the co-immunoprecipitated protein complexes by mass spectrometry. Within the interactome analyses of the hsMPs, we identified shared and non-shared interacting proteins between YAP and TAZ. Among these identified proteins many well established interactors of YAP and TAZ were included, like proteins of the Tead family, different angiomotins or large tumor suppressor kinase 1 (Lats1). Strikingly, among the shared proteins were numerous proteins of the nuclear shuttling machinery, like importins (Ipo), exportins (Xpo), transportins (Tnpo) and nucleoporins (Nup) that form the nuclear pore complex (NPC), such as NUP107, NUP133, NUP205 and XPO5.
Project description:Podocytes are terminally differentiated cells at the kidney filtration barrier and exposed to considerable mechanical strain. Podocyte injury causes morphological changes as a result of cytoskeletal reorganizations and failure of the filtration barrier. The transcriptional co-activators YAP/TAZ are tightly controlled through hippo signaling and responsive to mechanical cues. Here, we show that YAP is upregulated upon podocyte injury to activate YAP-dependent target genes. This activation preceded the development of proteinuria. In contrast, similar perturbations of cells in culture did not reveal increased YAP activity but showed a downregulation of YAP/TAZ activity when cells were grown on stiff surface. However, culture of cells on soft matrix or inhibition of stress fiber formation allowed recapitulation of the damage-induced YAP upregulation indicating a mechanotransduction-dependent mechanism of YAP over-activity. Interestingly, increased expression of YAP targets was confirmed in renal biopsies from patients with glomerular disease. Consistently, pharmacological inhibition of YAP/TEAD activity ameliorated glomerular disease in vivo. These data suggest that perturbation of the mechanosensitive hippo signaling pathway may be a therapeutic principle in podocyte disease.
Project description:This is a set of proteomics performed on murine podocytes derived from a GSK3alpha/beta floxed mouse. GSK3 has been knocked down in the podocytes using lentiviral cre. This was performed 3 days prior to the analysis. For more details see paper entitled "Podocyte GSK3 is an evolutionarily conserved critical regulator of kidney function" published in Nature Communications.
Project description:Podocytes, highly differentiated glomerular epithelial cells, are essential for the maintenance of glomerular filtration barrier. Lipid accumulation in podocytes is a major determinant of proteinuric kidney disease. By RNA-sequencing analysis, we observed the significant changes of genes important in regulating cellular lipid homeostasis in podocytes with HG treatment. We generated two mouse podocyte cell lines stably transduced with either a sh-NC lentiviral construct or a shRNA lentiviral construct designed to target JAML RNA to investigate the consequences on the gene expression profile of JAML knockdown in mouse podocytes.
Project description:The Hippo pathway downstream effectors, Yap and Taz, play key roles in cell proliferation and tissue growth, regulating gene expression especially via interaction with Tead transcription factors. To investigate their role in skeletal muscle stem cells, we analysed gene expression changes driven by Taz and compared these to Yap mediated changes to the transcriptome by measurement of gene expression on Affymetrix microarrays. To interrogate overlapping and unique transcriptional changes driven by these Hippo effectors, satellite cell-derived myoblasts were transduced with constitutively active TAZ S89A or YAP S127A retrovirus for 24h or 48h, with empty retrovirus as control. Triplicate microarray analyses of empty vector controls, hYAP1 S127A and TAZ S89A transgenic primary myoblasts were conducted.
Project description:Purpose: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to define the transcriptome of native mouse podocytes and non-podocytes glomerular cells as part of a project aiming to define the molecular fingerprint of mouse podocytes. Method: Glomeruli from 29 Gt(ROSA)26Sortm4(ACTB-tdTomato,-EGFP)Luo/J x hNPHS2Cre mice at the age of 10 weeks were purified and a single cell solution was prepared to seperate GFP-expressing (podocytes) and GFP-negative (non-podocytes glomerular cells) cells by FACS sorting. RNA was extracted and prepared for further analysis using directional, polyA+ library preparation. An Illumina HiSeq2500 was used for a paired-end sequencing of 100 cycles . Salmon and Sleuth were used for downstream analysis. Results: A total of 100 Million reads each from podocytes and non-podocytes glomerular cells could be used for further analysis.
Project description:We generated NUP133 mutant podocytes to model human hereditary SRNS in vitro. A subtype of SRNS is caused by monogenetic mutations of the nuclear pore complex including NUP133. Human immortalized podocytes were genome edited applying the CRISPR/Cas9 technique to create NUP133 KO cells (“KO-1”). cDNA of NUP133-WT or causative variants NUP133 c.2922T>G (“Mutation-1”) or NUP133 c.3335-11T>A (“Mutation-2”) were stable expressed into this KO background by lentiviral transduction. Transcriptome profiling (RNA-Sequencing) and differential gene expression analysis was performed in triplicate for each cell line. NUP133 mutant podocytes showed no overt transcriptional changes compared to NUP133-WT cells.
Project description:To determine the biological mechanisms underlying the oncogenic properties of YAP in ccRCC the human ccRCC cell line MZ1774 was transduced with lentivirus containing a shRNA-cassette targeting YAP-mRNA. Expression profiles of MZ1774 YAP knockdown cells were compared to mock-transduced control cells. Total RNA from MZ1774 cells stably expressing shRNA directed against YAP compared to mock-transduced MZ1174 cells