Project description:Mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum contacts (MERCs) regulate multiple cellular processes including cell survival and differentiation. Based on the observations that MERCs were specifically enriched in the CD4-CD8- double negative (DN) stage, we studied their role in early thymocyte development. We found that T-cell-specific knockout of Hspa9, which encodes GRP75, a chaperone mediates MERC formation by assembling the IP3R-GRP75-VDAC complex, impaired DN3 thymocyte viability and resulted in thymocyte developmental arrest at the DN3-DN4 transition. Mechanistically, GRP75 deficiency induced mitochondrial stress, releasing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) into the cytosol and triggering the type I interferon (IFN-I) response. IFN-I pathway contributed to both the impairment of cell survival and DN3-DN4 transition blockage, while increased lipid peroxidation (LPO) played a major role downstream of IFN-I. Thus, our study reveals the essential role of GRP75-dependent MERCs in early thymocyte development and uncovers the governing facts of cellular survival and differentiation in the DN stage.
Project description:Lineage negative, CD44 negative, CD25 positive thymocytes were isolated from wt mice or Miz1 POZ-domain knockout mice to analyze the effect of loss of Miz1 in the DN3 population of T-cells We used the mouse Affymetrix MOE430-2 microarray to characterize global gene expression changes of DN3 thymocytes from Miz1 knockout mice. We performed microarray based gene expression profiling to determine the effect of loss of Miz1 activity on the gene expression pattern of mouse DN3 thymocytes from wt and Miz1-delta-POZ mice.
Project description:Lineage negative, CD44 negative, CD25 positive thymocytes were isolated from wt mice or Miz1 POZ-domain knockout mice to analyze the effect of loss of Miz1 in the DN3 population of T-cells We used the mouse Affymetrix MOE430-2 microarray to characterize global gene expression changes of DN3 thymocytes from Miz1 knockout mice.
Project description:TCF-1 is an HMG family transcription factor which is known to be critical for T cell development. We discovered that it has a unique role in suppressing malignant transformation of developing thymocytes at early stages. We identified ID2 and LEF-1 as key TCF-1 target genens in tumor suppression. We used microarrays to detect gene expression changes in WT and TCF-1 deficient DN3 thymocytes as well as T cell lymphoma cells developed in TCF-1 KO mice. DN3 thymocytes were directly sorted from WT or TCF-1 KO mice. T cell lymphoma blast cells were also sorted from TCF-1 KO mice that developed the disease. RNA was extracted and hybridized to GeneChip Mouse GENE 1.0 ST arrays (Affymetrix).
Project description:T cell-specific overexpression of miR-185 caused a developmental block at DN3 stage of thymopoiesis. DN3 stage thymocytes were sorted from the wild type (C57BL/6) and miR-185 Tg mice, followed by total RNA isolation.
Project description:We found that naïve T cells from SCD1-/- mice have an intrinsic preference for regulatory T cells differentiation. Such preference was imprinted to DN3 thymocytes developed in SCD1 deficient thymus and persisted to mature T cells. To investigate the potential epigenetic changes underlying the Treg-bias. We employed ATAC-seq to examine the chromatin accessibility of naïve T cells and DN3 thymocytes from SCD1-/- mice and their littermate controls.