Project description:Analysis of epithelial explants injected with the intracellular domain of Notch (ICD) to block the formation of multi-ciliate cells, either alone or along with FoxJ1. FoxJ1 misexpression leads to the induction fo ectopic cilia in Xenopus laevis epithelia. Results show which genes are affected by FoxJ1 during the induction of ectopic cilia. Ciliated cells that produce a leftward fluid flow have been proposed to mediate left-right patterning in many vertebrate embryos. These cilia combine features of primary sensory and motile cilia, but how such cilia are specified is unknown. We address this issue by analyzing the Xenopus and Zebrafish homologs of FoxJ1, a forkhead transcription factor necessary for ciliogenesis in multi-ciliate cells of the mouse. We show that the cilia that underlie left-right patterning on the Xenopus gastrocoel roof plate (GRP) and Zebrafish Kupfferâs vesicle (KV) are severely shortened or fail to form in FoxJ1 morphants. We also show that misexpressing XFoxJ1 is sufficient to induce ectopic GRP-like cilia formation in frog embryos. Microarray analysis indicates that XFoxJ1 induces the formation of cilia by upregulating the expression of motile cilia genes. These results indicate that FoxJ1 is a critical determinant in specifying cilia used in left-right patterning. Experiment Overall Design: 2-cell stage Xenopus embryos were injected with synthetic mRNA encoding ICD alone or along with FoxJ1. At stage 9/10 the presumptive ectoderm was cut off the embryo and cultured on a fibronectin coated coverslip. At stage 22 RNA was harvested from explants and used as the starting material for arrays.
Project description:Analysis of epithelial explants injected with the intracellular domain of Notch (ICD) to block the formation of multi-ciliate cells, either alone or along with FoxJ1. FoxJ1 misexpression leads to the induction fo ectopic cilia in Xenopus laevis epithelia. Results show which genes are affected by FoxJ1 during the induction of ectopic cilia. Ciliated cells that produce a leftward fluid flow have been proposed to mediate left-right patterning in many vertebrate embryos. These cilia combine features of primary sensory and motile cilia, but how such cilia are specified is unknown. We address this issue by analyzing the Xenopus and Zebrafish homologs of FoxJ1, a forkhead transcription factor necessary for ciliogenesis in multi-ciliate cells of the mouse. We show that the cilia that underlie left-right patterning on the Xenopus gastrocoel roof plate (GRP) and Zebrafish Kupffer’s vesicle (KV) are severely shortened or fail to form in FoxJ1 morphants. We also show that misexpressing XFoxJ1 is sufficient to induce ectopic GRP-like cilia formation in frog embryos. Microarray analysis indicates that XFoxJ1 induces the formation of cilia by upregulating the expression of motile cilia genes. These results indicate that FoxJ1 is a critical determinant in specifying cilia used in left-right patterning. Keywords: Cilia Induction
Project description:To determine the positions of promoters and enhancers in developing Xenopus laevis epithelial progenitors, we performed ChIPseq on the histone modifications H3K4me3 and H3K27ac. We also performed ChIPseq on the transcription factors foxj1 (in the presence or absence of rfx2), myb (in the presence or absence of multicilin), and rad21. Some embryos were harvested as wild-types; in other experiments, we injected embryos with mRNAs encoding FLAG-foxj1 (with and without rfx2 morpholino) or GFP-myb (with and without an inducible form of multicilin (mcidas-HGR)). We then isolated epithelial progenitors surgically and, when injected with multicilin, induced at mid-stage 11. We then harvested chromatin at 9 hours after induction (roughly stage 18) and performed ChIPseq using antibodies against endogenous targets (H3K4me3, H3K27ac, rad21) or protein tags (FLAG, GFP). We then sequenced these libraries, aligned the reads to the X. laevis genome (version 9.1) with bwa mem and called peaks with HOMER, using input as background.
Project description:To determine the positions of promoters and enhancers in developing Xenopus laevis epithelial progenitors, we performed ChIPseq on the histone modifications H3K4me3 and H3K27ac. We also performed ChIPseq on the transcription factors foxj1 (in the presence or absence of rfx2), myb (in the presence or absence of multicilin), and rad21.
Project description:Olfaction plays important roles in food and mate choice, and also in the avoidance of predators, making it a vital sensory modality for preservation and reproduction. In the vertebrates, olfactory receptors are thought to localise on multiple cilia elaborated on the dendritic knobs of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). Although olfactory cilia dysfunction can cause loss of the sense of smell, how their differentiation is programmed at the transcriptional level has remained largely unexplored. We discovered in zebrafish and mice that Foxj1, a fork head-domain containing transcription factor traditionally linked with motile cilia biogenesis, is expressed in OSNs and required for olfactory epithelium formation. In keeping with the immotile nature of the olfactory cilia, we observed that ciliary motility genes that are the targets of Foxj1 in motile ciliated cells, are repressed in the OSNs. Strikingly, we also found that besides ciliogenesis, Foxj1 controls the differentiation of the OSNs by regulating their cell type-specific gene expression, such as that of olfactory marker protein (omp) involved in odour-evoked signal transduction. In line with these requirements, response to bile acid, an odour detected by OMP-positive OSNs, was significantly diminished in the foxj1 mutant zebrafish. Taken together, our findings establish how the canonical Foxj1-mediated motile ciliogenic transcriptional program has been repurposed for the biogenesis of the immotile olfactory cilia and for the development of the OSNs themselves.
Project description:Formation of motile cilia in vertebrate embryos is essential for proper development and tissue function. Key regulators of motile ciliogenesis are the transcription factors FOXJ1 and NOTO, which are conserved throughout vertebrates. Downstream target genes of FOXJ1 have been identified in a variety of species, organs and cultured cell lines; in murine embryonic and foetal tissues, however, FOXJ1 and NOTO effectors have not been comprehensively analysed and our knowledge of the downstream genetic programme driving motile ciliogenesis in the mammalian lung and ventral node is fragmentary. We compared genome-wide expression profiles of undifferentiated E14.5 vs. abundantly ciliated E18.5 micro-dissected airway epithelia as well as Foxj1+ vs. Foxj1-deficient foetal (E16.5) lungs of the mouse using microarray hybridisation. 326 genes deregulated in both screens are candidates for FOXJ1-dependent, ciliogenesis-associated factors at the endogenous onset of motile ciliogenesis in the lung, including 123 genes that have not been linked to ciliogenesis before; 46% of these novel factors lack known homologues outside mammals. Microarray screening of Noto+ vs. Noto null early headfold embryos (E7.75) identified 59 of the lung candidates as NOTO/FOXJ1-dependent factors in the embryonic left-right organiser that carries a different subtype of motile cilia. For several uncharacterised factors from this small overlap – including 1700012B09Rik, 1700026L06Rik and Fam183b – we provide extended experimental evidence for a ciliary function.