Project description:Embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and differentiation are governed by a broad-ranging regulatory network. Although the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms involved have been investigated extensively, post-transcriptional regulation is still poorly understood. Here we describe a critical role of the THO complex in ESC self-renewal and differentiation. We show that THO preferentially interacts with pluripotency gene transcripts through Thoc5, and is required for self-renewal at least in part by regulating their export and expression. During differentiation, THO loses its interaction with those transcripts due to reduced Thoc5 expression, leading to decreased expression of pluripotency proteins that facilitates exit from self-renewal. THO is also important for the establishment of pluripotency, as its depletion inhibits somatic cell reprogramming and blastocyst development. Together, our data indicate that THO regulates pluripotency gene mRNA export to control ESC self-renewal and differentiation, and therefore uncover a role for this aspect of post-transcriptional regulation in stem cell fate specification. mouse J1 cells were transfected with non-targeting (NT), Thoc2, and Thoc5 siRNAs. Total RNA was isolated 96 hours after transfection.
Project description:Embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and differentiation is governed by a comprehensive regulatory network. Although the transcriptional regulation has been extensively investigated, post-transcriptional mechanisms controlling the ESC state are poorly understood. Here we describe a critical role of the THO complex in ESC self-renewal and differentiation. We show that THO preferentially interacts with pluripotency gene transcripts through Thoc5, and is required for self-renewal by regulating their export and expression. During differentiation, THO loses its interaction with those transcripts due to reduced Thoc5 expression, which leads to decreased expression of pluripotency proteins and facilitates differentiation. Finally, THO is also important for the establishment of pluripotency, as its depletion inhibits somatic cell reprogramming and blastocyst development. Together, our data indicates that THO regulates pluripotency gene mRNA export to control ESC self-renewal and differentiation, and uncovers a novel mechanism of post-transcriptional regulation in stem cell fate specification. RNA IP was conducted by use of antibody against Thoc2, the precipitated RNA was used to generate library using illumina Kit, and subsequently sequenced by miSeq
Project description:Embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and differentiation are governed by a broad-ranging regulatory network. Although the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms involved have been investigated extensively, post-transcriptional regulation is still poorly understood. Here we describe a critical role of the THO complex in ESC self-renewal and differentiation. We show that THO preferentially interacts with pluripotency gene transcripts through Thoc5, and is required for self-renewal at least in part by regulating their export and expression. During differentiation, THO loses its interaction with those transcripts due to reduced Thoc5 expression, leading to decreased expression of pluripotency proteins that facilitates exit from self-renewal. THO is also important for the establishment of pluripotency, as its depletion inhibits somatic cell reprogramming and blastocyst development. Together, our data indicate that THO regulates pluripotency gene mRNA export to control ESC self-renewal and differentiation, and therefore uncover a role for this aspect of post-transcriptional regulation in stem cell fate specification.
Project description:Embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and differentiation is governed by a comprehensive regulatory network. Although the transcriptional regulation has been extensively investigated, post-transcriptional mechanisms controlling the ESC state are poorly understood. Here we describe a critical role of the THO complex in ESC self-renewal and differentiation. We show that THO preferentially interacts with pluripotency gene transcripts through Thoc5, and is required for self-renewal by regulating their export and expression. During differentiation, THO loses its interaction with those transcripts due to reduced Thoc5 expression, which leads to decreased expression of pluripotency proteins and facilitates differentiation. Finally, THO is also important for the establishment of pluripotency, as its depletion inhibits somatic cell reprogramming and blastocyst development. Together, our data indicates that THO regulates pluripotency gene mRNA export to control ESC self-renewal and differentiation, and uncovers a novel mechanism of post-transcriptional regulation in stem cell fate specification.
Project description:Embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and differentiation are governed by a broad-ranging regulatory network. Although the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms involved have been investigated extensively, posttranscriptional regulation is still poorly understood. Here we describe a critical role of the THO complex in ESC self-renewal and differentiation. We show that THO preferentially interacts with pluripotency gene transcripts through Thoc5 and is required for self-renewal at least in part by regulating their export and expression. During differentiation, THO loses its interaction with those transcripts due to reduced Thoc5 expression, leading to decreased expression of pluripotency proteins that facilitates exit from self-renewal. THO is also important for the establishment of pluripotency, because its depletion inhibits somatic cell reprogramming and blastocyst development. Together, our data indicate that THO regulates pluripotency gene mRNA export to control ESC self-renewal and differentiation, and therefore uncover a role for this aspect of posttranscriptional regulation in stem cell fate specification.
Project description:Transcription termination of mRNAs transcribed from a given locus has a decisive role in regulating the gene function as it determines the coding potential and inclusion of regulatory sequence elements. Failure in appropriate transcription termination leads to read-through transcription, resulting in the synthesis of antisense RNAs which can have profound impact on overall gene expression. However, molecular mechanisms which regulate transcription termination and chimeric RNA formation are poorly understood. We explored the regulatory function of transcription and export complex (THO/TREX) in transcription termination. We show that two members of THO/TREX complex, TREX COMPONENT 1 (TEX1) and HYPER RECOMBINATION1(HPR1) are critical for the correct transcription termination in Arabidopsis. We first demonstrate this by showing defective termination of the bacterial nopaline synthase (NOS) terminator on a transgene in tex1 and hpr1 mutants. Additionally, we show that RNA termination defects in tex1 and hpr1 mutants are widespread at the whole genome levels leading to 3’UTR extensions, truncations and in some cases in the formation of intergenic chimeric transcripts. Chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with quantitative PCR experiments confirmed the presence of RNA polymerase II beyond the canonical termination sites on genes with defective RNA termination in tex1 and hpr1 mutants. These results demonstrate that THO/TREX complex is a novel regulator of transcription termination in Arabidopsis.
Project description:THO/TREX is a conserved nuclear complex that functions in mRNP biogenesis at the interface of transcription-RNA export with a key role in preventing transcription-associated genome instability. We used microarrays to analyze the impact of different THO/TREX mutations on gene expression and found that THO-Sub2 deletions have a high functional impact on highly expressed, long and G+C-rich genes regardless of gene function.