Project description:Clarification of the mechanisms underlying osteoclast differentiation enable us to understand the physiology of bone metabolism as well as the pathophysiology of bone diseases, such as osteoporosis. Recently, it has been reported that epigenetics can determine the cell fate and regulate cell type specific gene expression. However, little is known about epigenetics during osteoclastogenesis. To reveal a part of epigenetics, especially focused on chromatin dynamics, during early osteoclastogenesis and identify novel transcription factors involved in osteoclastogenesis, we investigated genome-wide analysis of open chromatin during receptor activator of nuclear factor-M-NM-:B ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclastogenesis using DNase I hypersensitive sites sequencing (DNase-seq). DNase-seq was performed using the extracted nuclei obtained from RAW264 cells treated with or without RANKL for 24 hours, followed by several bioinformatic analyses. DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs) during RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis were dynamically changed and accumulated in promoter regions, although the distributions of DHSs among cis-regulatory DNA regions were identical regardless of RANKL stimulation. Motif discoveries from DHSs successfully identified well-known osteoclastogenic transcription factors such as Jun, CREB1, FOS, ATF2 and ATF4, but also novel transcription factors for osteoclastogenesis such as Zscan10, Atf1 Nrf1 and Srebf2. siRNA knockdown of these identified novel transcription factors impaired osteoclastogenesis. Taken together, DNase-seq can be a useful tool for comprehension of epigenetics, especially chromatin dynamics during osteoclastogenesis and for identification of novel transcription factors involved in osteoclastogenesis. This study may reveal underlying mechanisms that determine cell-type specific differentiation of bone cells and may lead to investigate novel therapeutic targets for osteoporosis. Examination of genome-wide DNase Hypersensitive Sites in differentiated and undifferentiated RAW264 cells.
Project description:Clarification of the mechanisms underlying osteoclast differentiation enable us to understand the physiology of bone metabolism as well as the pathophysiology of bone diseases, such as osteoporosis. Recently, it has been reported that epigenetics can determine the cell fate and regulate cell type specific gene expression. However, little is known about epigenetics during osteoclastogenesis. To reveal a part of epigenetics, especially focused on chromatin dynamics, during early osteoclastogenesis and identify novel transcription factors involved in osteoclastogenesis, we investigated genome-wide analysis of open chromatin during receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclastogenesis using DNase I hypersensitive sites sequencing (DNase-seq). DNase-seq was performed using the extracted nuclei obtained from RAW264 cells treated with or without RANKL for 24 hours, followed by several bioinformatic analyses. DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs) during RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis were dynamically changed and accumulated in promoter regions, although the distributions of DHSs among cis-regulatory DNA regions were identical regardless of RANKL stimulation. Motif discoveries from DHSs successfully identified well-known osteoclastogenic transcription factors such as Jun, CREB1, FOS, ATF2 and ATF4, but also novel transcription factors for osteoclastogenesis such as Zscan10, Atf1 Nrf1 and Srebf2. siRNA knockdown of these identified novel transcription factors impaired osteoclastogenesis. Taken together, DNase-seq can be a useful tool for comprehension of epigenetics, especially chromatin dynamics during osteoclastogenesis and for identification of novel transcription factors involved in osteoclastogenesis. This study may reveal underlying mechanisms that determine cell-type specific differentiation of bone cells and may lead to investigate novel therapeutic targets for osteoporosis.
Project description:Gene expression is controlled by the complex interaction of transcription factors binding to promoters and other regulatory DNA elements. One common characteristic of the genomic regions associated with regulatory proteins is a pronounced sensitivity to DNase I digestion. We generated genome-wide high resolution maps of DNase I hypersensitive (DH) sites from both seedling and callus tissues of rice. Approximately 25% of the DH sites from both tissues were found in the putative promoters, indicating that the vast majority of gene regulatory elements in rice are not located at promoter regions. We found 58% more DH sites in callus than in seedling. For DH sites detected in both seedling and callus, 31% displayed significantly different levels of DNase I sensitivity within the two tissues. Genes that were differentially expressed in seedling and callus were frequently associated with DH sites in both tissues. The DNA sequences contained within the DH sites were hypomethylated, consistent with what is known about active gene regulatory elements. Interestingly, tissue-specific DH sites located in the promoters showed an elevated level of DNA methylation. A distinct elevation of H3K27me3 was associated with intergenic DH sites. These results suggest that epigenetic modifications play a role in the dynamic changes of the numbers and DNase I sensitivity of DH sites during development. Generation of genome-wide high resolution maps of DNase I hypersensitive sites in two tissues of rice. For seedling, we constructed 3 libraries (biological replicates) and sequenced a lane of Illumina Genome Analyzer for each library. For callus, we constructed 2 libraries (biological replicates). We sequenced two lanes for one library and one lane for another library.
Project description:Gene expression is controlled by the complex interaction of transcription factors binding to promoters and other regulatory DNA elements. One common characteristic of the genomic regions associated with regulatory proteins is a pronounced sensitivity to DNase I digestion. We generated genome-wide high resolution maps of DNase I hypersensitive (DH) sites from both seedling and callus tissues of rice. Approximately 25% of the DH sites from both tissues were found in the putative promoters, indicating that the vast majority of gene regulatory elements in rice are not located at promoter regions. We found 58% more DH sites in callus than in seedling. For DH sites detected in both seedling and callus, 31% displayed significantly different levels of DNase I sensitivity within the two tissues. Genes that were differentially expressed in seedling and callus were frequently associated with DH sites in both tissues. The DNA sequences contained within the DH sites were hypomethylated, consistent with what is known about active gene regulatory elements. Interestingly, tissue-specific DH sites located in the promoters showed an elevated level of DNA methylation. A distinct elevation of H3K27me3 was associated with intergenic DH sites. These results suggest that epigenetic modifications play a role in the dynamic changes of the numbers and DNase I sensitivity of DH sites during development. To do associated analysis with DNase I hypersensitive sites in rice, we performed ChIP-seq to identify the positions of three histone modifications (H3K4me2, H3K36me3 and H4K12ac) in the rice genome (leaf tissue only - not callus). The ChIP DNA from seedling of each experiment was sequenced on one lane of Illumina Genome Analyzer.
Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.
Project description:Gene expression is controlled by the complex interaction of transcription factors binding to promoters and other regulatory DNA elements. One common characteristic of the genomic regions associated with regulatory proteins is a pronounced sensitivity to DNase I digestion. We generated genome-wide high resolution maps of DNase I hypersensitive (DH) sites from both seedling and callus tissues of rice. Approximately 25% of the DH sites from both tissues were found in the putative promoters, indicating that the vast majority of gene regulatory elements in rice are not located at promoter regions. We found 58% more DH sites in callus than in seedling. For DH sites detected in both seedling and callus, 31% displayed significantly different levels of DNase I sensitivity within the two tissues. Genes that were differentially expressed in seedling and callus were frequently associated with DH sites in both tissues. The DNA sequences contained within the DH sites were hypomethylated, consistent with what is known about active gene regulatory elements. Interestingly, tissue-specific DH sites located in the promoters showed an elevated level of DNA methylation. A distinct elevation of H3K27me3 was associated with intergenic DH sites. These results suggest that epigenetic modifications play a role in the dynamic changes of the numbers and DNase I sensitivity of DH sites during development.
Project description:We collected whole genome testis expression data from hybrid zone mice. We integrated GWAS mapping of testis expression traits and low testis weight to gain insight into the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility.