Project description:we performed lentiviral CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) by recruiting dCas9 fused with the KRAB domain to the CSMD1 enhancer (fam3) in the neuronal precursor cell line – Lund human mesencephalic (LUHMES). Given that the expression of CSMD1 was not detectable in LUHMES cells we differentiated these cells into neurons. Differentiated neurons with CRISPRi of CSMD1 enhancer showed significantly higher expression of CSMD1 than control.
Project description:Enhancers play key roles in gene regulation. However, comprehensive enhancer discovery is challenging because most enhancers, especially those affected in complex diseases, have weak effects on gene expression. Through gene regulatory network modeling, we identified that dynamic cell state transitions, a critical missing component in prevalent enhancer discovery strategies, can be utilized to improve the cells’ sensitivity to enhancer perturbation. Guided by the modeling results, we performed a mid-transition CRISPRi-based enhancer screen utilizing human embryonic stem cell definitive endoderm differentiation as a dynamic transition system. The screen discovered a comprehensive set of enhancers (4 to 9 per locus) for each of the core lineage-specifying transcription factors (TFs), including many enhancers with weak to moderate effects. Integrating the screening results with enhancer activity measurements (ATAC-seq, H3K27ac ChIP-seq) and three-dimensional enhancer-promoter interaction information (CTCF looping, Hi-C), we were able to develop a CTCF loop-constrained Interaction Activity (CIA) model that can better predict functional enhancers compared to models that rely on Hi-C-based enhancer-promoter contact frequency. Together, our dynamic network-guided enhancer screen and the CIA enhancer prediction model provide generalizable strategies for sensitive and more comprehensive enhancer discovery in both normal and pathological cell state transitions.
Project description:To study mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, neuronal cell lines are important model systems and are often differentiated into postmitotic neuron-like cells to resemble more closely primary neurons obtained from brains. One such cell line is the Lund Human Mesencephalic (LUHMES) cell line which can be differentiated into dopamine-like neurons and is frequently used to study mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and neurotoxicity. Neuronal differentiation of LUHMES cells is commonly verified by measurement of selected neuronal markers, but little is known about proteome-wide protein abundance changes during differentiation. Using mass spectrometry and label-free quantification (LFQ) we compared the proteome of differentiated and undifferentiated LUHMES cells as well as of cultured primary murine midbrain neurons, which are mainly dopaminergic. Neuronal differentiation induced substantial changes of the LUHMES cell proteome (18.4% reveal protein abundance changes of more than 4-fold), with proliferation-related proteins (e.g. MCMs) being strongly down-regulated and neuronal and dopaminergic proteins being up to 1000-fold upregulated, such as L1CAM and SNCA. Several of these proteins, including MAPT and SYN1, may be useful new markers to experimentally validate neuronal differentiation of cultured LUHMES cells. Primary midbrain neurons were more closely related to differentiated than to undifferentiated LUHMES cells with respect to the abundance of proteins related to neurodegeneration or to genetic forms of PD. In summary, our comparative proteomic analysis demonstrates that differentiated LUHMES cells are a suitable model for studies on PD and neurodegeneration and provides a resource of the proteome-wide changes during neuronal differentiation.
Project description:CSMD1 gene, mapping to human chromosomal region 8p23, encodes a transmembrane protein with an extracellular region containing 14 CUB and 28 sushi domains, a transmembrane domain and a cytoplasmic domain with a putative tyrosine phosphorylation site.The loss of CSMD1 has been found to be associated with enhanced cell proliferation, migration and poor prognosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCCs), lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCCs), melanoma, and breast cancer, suggesting its role as a tumor suppresser.However, its role in hypertrophic scar has not been uncovered. So we decided using fibroblasts to see its transcriptomes changing after CSMD1 knockdown.
Project description:Assess the on- and off-target effects of dox-inducible CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPRi constructs in a human iPS cell line. Transcript quantification of 3 cell lines, each plus or minus doxycycline and with or without specific single guide RNAs (sgRNAs), with 2 biological replicates each.
Project description:In order to investigate the role of an IRF1-associated trans-response eQTL in immune response, we utilized CRISPRi to repress either the eQTL variant locus or the promoter of IRF1. Cells were treated with a CRISPRi construct and gRNAs targeting a putative IRF1 enhancer, the IRF1 promoter or GFP (control). RNA-sequencing was performed with no stimulation, with 90min LPS stimulation and 12h LPS stimulation, with two replicates of each for each gRNA condition. We find a correlation in the fold changes of differentially expressed genes in the promoter and enhancer gRNA conditions, suggesting the enhancer is indeed affecting expression of IRF1 and producing a similar effect on the transcriptome.
Project description:Infertility in men and women is a common and complex genetic trait with shared biological bases between the sexes. We performed a series of rare variant analyses across 73,185 women and men to identify genes that contribute to primary gonadal dysfunction and identified CSMD1 as a strong candidate in both sexes. CSMD1 is a complement regulatory protein on chromosome 8p23. In order to interpret and support our genetic findings, we performed detailed transcriptomic and protein-based experiments which found CSMD1 enriched at the germ-cell/somatic-cell interface in both male and female gonads. We then performed a battery of tests on Csmd1 knockout mice. Knockout males show increased rates of infertility, and present testes with severe histological degeneration and significantly increased deposition of complement C3 protein. Knockout females show significant reduction in ovarian quality and breeding success, as well as impaired branching of the mammary glands. Furthermore, double knockout of Csmd1 and C3 leads to an unexpected and non-additive reduction in breeding success, suggesting that CSMD1 and the complement pathway play an important role in the normal postnatal development of the gonads in both sexes.