Project description:Mouse hair follicles undergo synchronized cycles. Cyclical regeneration and hair growth is fueled by stem cells (SCs). During the rest phase, the HF-SCs remain quiescent due to extrinsic inhibitory signals within the niche. As activating cues accumulate, HF-SCs become activated, proliferate, and grows downward to form transient-amplifying matrix progenitor cells. We used ChIP-seq to reveal the genome-wide maps of histone modifications underlying the states of hair follicle stem cells and their transient-amplifying progeny before differentiation. Quiescent hair follicle stem cells (qHF-SCs), activated hair follicle stem cells (aHF-SCs) and transient-amplifying matrix cells (HF-TACs) were FACS-purified for ChIP-sequcencing.
Project description:Mouse hair follicles undergo synchronized cycles. Cyclical regeneration and hair growth is fueled by stem cells (SCs). During the rest phase, the HF-SCs remain quiescent due to extrinsic inhibitory signals within the niche. As activating cues accumulate, HF-SCs become activated, proliferate, and grows downward to form transient-amplifying matrix progenitor cells. We used ChIP-seq to reveal the genome-wide maps of histone modifications underlying the states of hair follicle stem cells and their transient-amplifying progeny before differentiation.
Project description:Tissue homeostasis and regeneration require activation and subsequent lineage commitment of tissue-resident stem cells (SCs). These state changes are controlled by epigenetic barriers. Using hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) as paradigm, we studied how aging impacts the chromatin landscape and function of mammalian SCs. Analyses of genome-wide chromatin accessibility revealed that aged HFSCs displayed widespread reduction of chromatin accessibility specifically at key SC self-renewal and differentiation genes that were characterized by bivalent promoters carrying both activating and repressive chromatin marks. Consistently, aged HFSCs showed reduced self-renewing capacity and attenuated ability to activate expression of these bivalent genes upon regeneration. These functional defects were niche-dependent as transplantation of aged HFSCs into young recipients or into ex vivo niches restored SC functions and transcription of poised genes. Mechanistically, aged HFSC niche displayed wide-spread alterations in extracellular matrix composition and mechanics, resulting in compressive forces on SCs and subsequent transcriptional repression, leading to loss of bivalent promoters. Tuning tissue mechanics both in vivo and in vitro recapitulated age-related SC changes, implicating niche mechanics as a central regulator of genome organization and function leading to age-dependent SC exhaustion.
Project description:Mechanisms of plasticity to acquire different cell fates are critical for adult stem cell (SC) potential, yet are poorly understood. Reduced global histone methylation is an epigenetic state known to mediate plasticity in cultured embryonic SCs and T cell progenitors. We used mouse hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) at two different hair cycle stages (early anagen and late catagen) to compare the genome-wide changes in the levels of histone modification marks H3K4me3, H3K9me3, and H3K27me3. Hair follicle stem cells from Early Anagen (EA-HFSCs) and Late Catagen (LC-HFSCs), and their non-HFSCs counterparts (nEA-HFSCs and nLC-HFSCs), were FACS-isolated for Chromatin Immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) analysis of H3K4me3, H3K9me3, and H3K27me3.
Project description:Mouse hair follicles undergo synchronized cycles. Cyclical regeneration and hair growth is fueled by hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs). We used ChIP-seq to unfold genome-wide chromatin landscapes of Nfatc1 and dissect the biological relevence of its upstream BMP signaling in HFSC aging. Telogen quiescent hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) were FACS-purified for ChIP-sequcencing.
Project description:Mouse hair follicles undergo synchronized cycles. Cyclical regeneration and hair growth is fueled by hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) and transit-amplifying cells (TACs). We used ChIP-seq to unfold genome-wide chromatin landscapes of H3K27ac and Med1 to identify super-enhancers and dissect their biological relevance in cell identity and plasticity of HFSCs in vivo and in vitro.
Project description:To obtain comprehensive maps of human pancreatic chromatin states, we performed genome-wide open chromatin and histone modification assays from primary human pancreatic cells.
Project description:Knowledge of both the global chromatin structure and the gene expression programs of human embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells should provide a robust means to assess whether the genomes of these cells have similar pluripotent states. Recent studies have suggested that ES and iPS cells represent different pluripotent states with substantially different gene expression profiles. We describe here a comparison of global chromatin structure and gene expression data for a panel of human ES and iPS cells. Genome-wide maps of nucleosomes with histone H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 modifications indicate that there is little difference between ES and iPS cells with respect to these marks. Gene expression profiles confirm that the transcriptional programs of ES and iPS cells show very few consistent differences. Although some variation in chromatin structure and gene expression was observed in these cell lines, these variations did not serve to distinguish ES from iPS cells. Examination of two histone modifications (H3K4me3 and H3K27me3) in 6 human ES cell lines, 8 human iPS cell lines, and 1 fibroblast cell line.
Project description:Interplays among lineage specific nuclear proteins, chromatin modifying enzymes and the basal transcription machinery govern cellular differentiation, but their dynamics of actions and coordination with transcriptional control are not fully understood. Alterations in chromatin structure appear to establish a permissive state for gene activation at some loci but they play an integral role in activation at other loci. To determine the predominant roles of chromatin states and factor occupancy in directing gene regulation during differentiation, we mapped chromatin accessibility, histone modifications, and nuclear factor occupancy genome-wide during mouse erythroid differentiation dependent on the master regulatory transcription factor GATA1. Remarkably, despite extensive changes in gene expression, the chromatin state profiles (proportions of a gene in a chromatin state dominated by activating or repressive histone modifications) and accessibility remain largely unchanged during GATA1-induced erythroid differentiation. In contrast, gene induction and repression are strongly associated with changes in patterns of transcription factor occupancy. Our results indicate that during erythroid differentiation, the broad features of chromatin states are established at the stage of lineage commitment, largely independently of GATA1. These determine permissiveness for expression, with subsequent induction or repression mediated by distinctive combinations of transcription factors. Using ChIP-Seq technology to examine DNase hypersensitivity, three transcription factors, and four histone modifications in Gata1-null murine G1E line and rescued G1E-ER4 subline, and also two of the transcription factors in mouse primary erythroblasts. ChIP input DNA was sequenced in each cell type as controls.