Project description:Centrosomal protein 83 (CEP83) is a component of the distal appendages proteins of centrioles, which is necessary for the assembly of primary cilia. Previous studies have implicated primary cilia in normal development and tissue homeostasis, including kidney development. The kidney develops from human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSCs) in a stepwise process involving induction of specialized Nephron progenitors (NPs) in the intermediate mesoderm (IM), followed by their differentiation into kidney epithelia. Here, we used CRISPR-cas9 technology to knockout CEP83 in hiPSCs that were differentiated versus the wildtype hiPSCs into IM followed by kidney epithelial differentiation to analyze the role of CEP83 in human kidney epithelial differentiation. We used morphological analyses, gene expression studies and immunostaining to analyze IM and nephron differentiation. Bulk RNA and single cell sequencing showed that CEP83-/- IM cells abnormally upregulate regulatory transcription factors of lateral plate mesoderm (LPM) including OSR1, FOXF1, FOXF2, HAND2 and FEDRR., and downregulate marker genes in specific NPs ncluding; PAX8, HOXB7 and EYA1. Further, wildtype hiPSCs successfully differentiated into kidney organoids that upregulate key nephron markers, including NPHS1, CUBN and GATA3. In contrast, CEP83-/- hiPSCs failed to differentiate into nephron epithelia and didn’t express nephron marker genes. In a human system modeling kidney epithelial differentiation from hiPSCs, our data provide a new insight to the essential role of CEP83 in NPs differentiation and may help to better understand the pathogenesis of CEP83-associated renal developmental defects.
Project description:We studied the membrane protein compositions of Streptococcus pneumoniae WT and scRNA mutant strains, with or without the CSP1 induction into competence state.
Project description:Centrosomal protein 83 (CEP83) is a component of the distal appendages proteins of centrioles, which is necessary for the assembly of primary cilia. Previous studies have implicated primary cilia in normal development and tissue homeostasis, including kidney development. The kidney develops from human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSCs) in a stepwise process involving induction of specialized Nephron progenitors (NPs) in the intermediate mesoderm (IM), followed by their differentiation into kidney epithelia. Here, we used CRISPR-cas9 technology to knockout CEP83 in hiPSCs that were differentiated versus the wildtype hiPSCs into IM followed by kidney epithelial differentiation to analyze the role of CEP83 in human kidney epithelial differentiation. We used morphological analyses, gene expression studies and immunostaining to analyze IM and nephron differentiation. Bulk RNA and single cell sequencing showed that CEP83-/- IM cells abnormally upregulate regulatory transcription factors of lateral plate mesoderm (LPM) including OSR1, FOXF1, FOXF2, HAND2 and FEDRR., and downregulate marker genes in specific NPs ncluding; PAX8, HOXB7 and EYA1. Further, wildtype hiPSCs successfully differentiated into kidney organoids that upregulate key nephron markers, including NPHS1, CUBN and GATA3. In contrast, CEP83-/- hiPSCs failed to differentiate into nephron epithelia and didn’t express nephron marker genes. In a human system modeling kidney epithelial differentiation from hiPSCs, our data provide a new insight to the essential role of CEP83 in NPs differentiation and may help to better understand the pathogenesis of CEP83-associated renal developmental defects.
Project description:With the increasing common of reduced serum testosterone (T), or hypogonadism, in the male population, there is an urgent require for the approach of obtaining T-producing cells, which could be used to treat hypogonadism based on transplantation and reestablishment of T-producing cell lineage in the body. In human, T is mainly synthesized by the Leydig cells (LCs) that have been proposed to derive from mesenchymal cells of mesonephric origin. Although mesenchymal cells have been successfully induced into LCs, the limited source and possible trauma to donors hinders their wide applications in clinic therapies. Alternatively, human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) that are highly expandable in cell culture and have the potential to differentiate into all somatic cell types become the emerging source of autologous cell therapies. In this study, we have successfully induced the differentiation of hiPSCs through mesoderm and early mesenchymal progenitors (EMPs) into either human Leydig cell-like cells (hLLCs) or human adrenal cell-like cells (hALCs) under different chemically defined culture systems. Factors that are critical for the normal development of LCs were added to both culture systems. hLLCs are expressed all steroidogenic genes and proteins that are important for T biosynthesis and are specific for LCs, synthesize T rather than cortisol (F), secret steroid hormones in response to db-cAMP and 22(R)-hydroxycholesterol, and display ultrastructural features resembling LCs. Differentially, hALCs synthesize F rather than T, and secret much less of steroid hormones than hLLCs. Thereafter, we performed microarray analyses to profile the whole gene expression pattern of hiPSCs and thier derivatives hLLCs and hALCs.
Project description:In males, Leydig cells are the main producers of testosterone and insulin-like 3, hormones which are both essential for sex differentiation and reproductive functions. Nuclear receptor chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter-transcription factors II (COUP-TFII) is expressed in the cells committed to give rise to the fully functional steroidogenic adult Leydig cells and has a major role in their function and differentiation. Up to date, only handful of COUP-TFII gene targets have been reported. A transcriptomic approach was used to identify additional genes affected by depletion of COUP-TFII in mouse MA-10 Leydig cell line.