Project description:USF2 has emerged as a key player in various cellular processes, including cell cycle regulation, apoptosi, metabolism, and response to cellular stress. In the context of muscle biology, the role of USF2 is not clear. To elucidate the functional significance of USF2, we conducted knockdown (KD) experiments targeting USF2 in C2C12 myoblast cells. The KD of USF2 resulted in the differential expression of a set of genes, and functional enrichment analysis of genes affected by KD of USF2 were performed.
Project description:We found that USF2 is repressor of lysosomal genes. To find the interacting co-repressor complex of USF2, we performed USF2 complex purification and mass spectrography.
Project description:Intricate regulation of lysosome and autophagy processes is essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis and basal metabolism. While the consequences of disrupting or attenuating lysosome and autophagy systems have been extensively studied, little is known about the impact of hyper-activation of lysosomal and autophagy genes on homeostasis. Our research uncovers previously unknown transcriptional repression mechanism by upstream stimulatory factor 2 (USF2), which inhibits lysosomal and autophagy genes in nutrient-rich conditions. USF2 binds to the CLEAR motif within lysosomal genes along with HDAC1, which diminishes H3K27 acetylation levels, restrains chromatin accessibility, and lowers lysosomal gene expression. Under starvation, USF2 competes with TFEB, a master transcriptional activator of lysosomal and autophagy genes, to bind target gene promoters in phosphorylation-dependent manner. Phosphorylation of the S155 site by GSK3b plays a pivotal role in controlling USF2's DNA binding activity for the repression of lysosomal genes while GSK3b-mediated phosphorylation of TFEB enhances its cytoplasmic retention. Applying these discoveries has potential for treating diseases associated with protein aggregation, including alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. These findings demonstrate that the USF2 repression mechanism could be a potent therapeutic strategy for various lysosome and autophagy-related diseases.
Project description:Analysis of differentiating LSD1-KD C2C12 myoblasts. We found LSD1 is an important regulator of oxidative phenotypes in skeletal muscle cells. Results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying roles of LSD1 in myocytes.
Project description:Intricate regulation of lysosome and autophagy processes is essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis and basal metabolism. While the consequences of disrupting or attenuating lysosome and autophagy systems have been extensively studied, little is known about the impact of hyper-activation of lysosomal and autophagy genes on homeostasis. Our research uncovers previously unknown transcriptional repression mechanism by upstream stimulatory factor 2 (USF2), which inhibits lysosomal and autophagy genes in nutrient-rich conditions. USF2 binds to the CLEAR motif within lysosomal genes along with HDAC1, which diminishes H3K27 acetylation levels, restrains chromatin accessibility, and lowers lysosomal gene expression. Under starvation, USF2 competes with TFEB, a master transcriptional activator of lysosomal and autophagy genes, to bind target gene promoters in phosphorylation-dependent manner. Phosphorylation of the S155 site by GSK3b plays a pivotal role in controlling USF2's DNA binding activity for the repression of lysosomal genes while GSK3b-mediated phosphorylation of TFEB enhances its cytoplasmic retention. Applying these discoveries has potential for treating diseases associated with protein aggregation, including alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. These findings demonstrate that the USF2 repression mechanism could be a potent therapeutic strategy for various lysosome and autophagy-related diseases.
Project description:Intricate regulation of lysosome and autophagy processes is essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis and basal metabolism. While the consequences of disrupting or attenuating lysosome and autophagy systems have been extensively studied, little is known about the impact of hyper-activation of lysosomal and autophagy genes on homeostasis. Our research uncovers previously unknown transcriptional repression mechanism by upstream stimulatory factor 2 (USF2), which inhibits lysosomal and autophagy genes in nutrient-rich conditions. USF2 binds to the CLEAR motif within lysosomal genes along with HDAC1, which diminishes H3K27 acetylation levels, restrains chromatin accessibility, and lowers lysosomal gene expression. Under starvation, USF2 competes with TFEB, a master transcriptional activator of lysosomal and autophagy genes, to bind target gene promoters in phosphorylation-dependent manner. Phosphorylation of the S155 site by GSK3b plays a pivotal role in controlling USF2's DNA binding activity for the repression of lysosomal genes while GSK3b-mediated phosphorylation of TFEB enhances its cytoplasmic retention. Applying these discoveries has potential for treating diseases associated with protein aggregation, including alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. These findings demonstrate that the USF2 repression mechanism could be a potent therapeutic strategy for various lysosome and autophagy-related diseases.
Project description:MSI2, which is expressed predominantly in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), enforces HSPC expansion when overexpressed and is upregulated in myeloid leukemias indicating its regulated transcription is critical to balanced self-renewal and leukemia restraint. Despite this, little is understood of the factors that enforce appropriate physiological levels of MSI2 in the blood system. Here we define a promoter region that reports on endogenous expression of MSI2 and identify USF2 and PLAG1 as transcription factors whose promoter binding drives reporter activity. We show that these factors co-regulate, and are required for, efficient transactivation of endogenous MSI2. Coincident overexpression of USF2 and PLAG1 in primitive cord blood cells enhanced MSI2 transcription and yielded cellular phenotypes, including expansion of CD34+ cells in vitro, consistent with that achieved by direct MSI2 overexpression. Global ChIP-seq analyses confirm a preferential co-binding of PLAG1 and USF2 at the promoter of MSI2, as well as regulatory regions corresponding to genes with roles in HSPC homeostasis. PLAG1 and USF2 cooperation is thus an important contributor to stem cell-specific expression of MSI2 and represents novel HSPC-specific transcriptional circuitry.