Project description:We found ERRb activates the transcription through two molecular pathways, which are interaction to AF2-region binding PGC-1a/cofactors and general transcription factor TFIIH. To analyze the significance of these pathways in cells, we first identified ERRb-target genes in ES cells. Estrogen-related receptors (ERRa/b/g) are orphan nuclear receptors that function in a number of energy-demanding physiological processes, as well as in development and stem cell maintenance, but mechanisms underlying target gene activation are largely unknown. Here, reconstituted biochemical assays that manifest ERR-dependent transcription have revealed two complementary mechanisms. On chromatin templates ERR-dependent transcription is dependent on interactions with cell-specific coactivator PGC-1a, which in turn recruits the ubiquitous p300 and MED1/Mediator coactivators. The N-terminal half of PGC-1a is necessary and sufficient for these interactions and for transcription both in vitro and in vivo. On DNA templates, ERRs activate transcription with just the normal complement of general initiation factors in a manner dependent upon interaction of the ERR DNA-binding domain with the p52 subunit of initiation factor TFIIH. Importantly, the PGC-1a and TFIIH interactions are both essential for ERRb/g functions in maintaining embryonic stem cell pluripotency through regulation of target gene transcription.
Project description:Human ES cells respond to activation of the BMP and WNT signaling by upregulating target genes. A 4h time-point following signaling factor stimulation was chosen to reveal immediate-early induced genes which are likely to be direct targets.
Project description:Core circuits of transcription factors stabilize stem and progenitor cells by suppressing genes required for differentiation. We do not know how such core circuits are reorganized during cell fate transitions to allow differentiation and lineage choice to proceed. Here, we asked how the pluripotency circuit, a core transcriptional circuit that maintains mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells in a pluripotent state, is dismantled as ES cells differentiate and choose between the neural ectodermal and mesendodermal progenitor cell fates. When ES cells are recultured from pluripotency maintaining conditions to the basal media N2B27, the expression of the pluripotency circuit genes begins to change. At 48 hours post N2B27 addition, the ES cells are competent to respond to differentiation signals. Here, our microarray analysis compares the gene expression profile of ES cells vs. the gene expression profile of cells that have been treated with N2B27 for 48 hours, reaching the competent state.