Project description:Plant cells are totipotent and hence can dedifferentiate and re-differentiate, making it possible to clone entire plant parts from a single cell. It is hence critical for plant cells to maintain specific cell-states during and after differentiation. Stomata, microscopic valves on the plant epidermis required for efficient gas exchange and water management, have emerged as a powerful model system for understanding how de novo lineage-specific stem cell initiate, proliferate and differentiate into specialized cell types during their development of the plant epidermis. The stomatal lineage emerged from a subpopulation of protodermal cells as meristemoid mother cells (MMCs) that undergoes an asymmetric entry division to give a rise meristemoid and its sister cell called the stomatal-lineage ground cell (SLGC). After several rounds of asymmetric cell division, meristemoids differentiate into round guard mother cells (GMC), which divide symmetrically and terminally differentiate into paired guard cells (GCs). We have adapted the INTACT (Isolation of Nuclei TAgged in Specific Cell Types) system to isolate each stomatal lineage-specific nuclei followed by ATACseq (Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin). We showed that chromatin accessibility is dynamic throughout the stomatal lineage progression. Further, the analysis of TF binding sites in differentially accessible regions led to discover that combinatorial cis-regulatory elements and transcription factor circuits controls lineage specific cell state transition during stomatal development.
Project description:The development of multi-cellular organisms requires coordinated changes in gene expression that are often mediated by the interaction between transcription factors (TFs) and their corresponding cis-regulatory elements (CREs). During development and differentiation, the accessibility of CREs is dynamically modulated by the epigenome. How the epigenome, CREs and TFs together exert control over cell fate commitment remains to be fully understood. In the Arabidopsis leaf epidermis, meristemoids undergo a series of stereotyped cell divisions, then switch fate to commit to stomatal differentiation. Newly created or reanalyzed scRNA-seq and ChIP-seq data confirm that stomatal development involves distinctive phases of transcriptional regulation and that differentially regulated genes are bound by the stomatal basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH) TFs. Targets of the bHLHs often reside in repressive chromatin before activation. MNase-seq evidence further suggests that the repressive state can be overcome and remodeled upon activation by specific stomatal bHLHs. We propose that chromatin remodeling is mediated through the recruitment of a set of physical interactors that we identified through proximity labeling – the ATPase-dependent chromatin remodeling SWI/SNF complex and the histone acetyltransferase HAC1. The bHLHs and chromatin remodelers localize to overlapping genomic regions in a hierarchical order. Furthermore, plants with stage-specific knock-down of the SWI/SNF components or HAC1 fail to activate specific bHLH targets and display stomatal development defects. Together these data converge on a model for how stomatal TFs and epigenetic machinery cooperatively regulate transcription and chromatin remodeling during progressive fate specification.
Project description:Stomata in the plant epidermis play a vital role in growth and survival by controlling gas exchange and immunity to pathogens. A genetic frame of key transcriptional factors and cellular communication has been established, by which plants modulate stomatal cell fate and patterning. miRNAs contribute to functional and developmental plasticity in multicellular organisms. However, it remains very elusive as to whether miRNAs pitch in stomatal development. Here, we reveal dynamic miRNA expression profiles from stomatal lineage cells in a development stage-specific manner and show that stomatal lineage miRNAs positively and negatively regulate stomatal formation and pattern to avoid clustered and paired stomata. Target prediction of stomatal lineage miRNAs suggests potential cellular processes involved in stomatal development. Furthermore, dysregulation of stomatal lineage miRNAs and their target mRNAs disclose unexpected genetic pathways modulating stomatal development. Our study demonstrates that miRNAs constitute an additional layer in the complex regulatory mechanism of stomatal development.
Project description:In plants, epidermal guard cells integrate and respond to numerous environmental signals to control stomatal pore apertures thereby regulating gas exchange. Chromatin structure controls transcription factor access to the genome, but whether large-scale chromatin remodeling occurs in guard cells during stomatal movements, and in response to the hormone abscisic acid (ABA) in general, remain unknown. Here we isolate guard cell nuclei from Arabidopsis thaliana plants to examine whether the physiological signals, ABA and CO2, regulate guard cell chromatin during stomatal movements. Our cell type specific analyses uncover patterns of chromatin accessibility specific to guard cells and define novel cis-regulatory sequences supporting guard cell specific gene expression. We find that ABA triggers extensive and dynamic chromatin remodeling in guard cells, roots, and mesophyll cells with clear patterns of cell-type specificity. DNA motif analyses uncover binding sites for distinct transcription factors enriched in ABA-induced and ABA-repressed chromatin. We identify the ABF/AREB bZIP-type transcription factors that are required for ABA-triggered chromatin opening in guard cells and implicate the inhibition of a set of bHLH-type transcription factors in controlling ABA-repressed chromatin. Moreover, we demonstrate that ABA and CO2 induce distinct programs of chromatin remodeling. We provide insight into the control of guard cell chromatin dynamics and propose that ABA-induced chromatin remodeling primes the genome for abiotic stress resistance.
Project description:In plants, epidermal guard cells integrate and respond to numerous environmental signals to control stomatal pore apertures thereby regulating gas exchange. Chromatin structure controls transcription factor access to the genome, but whether large-scale chromatin remodeling occurs in guard cells during stomatal movements, and in response to the hormone abscisic acid (ABA) in general, remain unknown. Here we isolate guard cell nuclei from Arabidopsis thaliana plants to examine whether the physiological signals, ABA and CO2, regulate guard cell chromatin during stomatal movements. Our cell type specific analyses uncover patterns of chromatin accessibility specific to guard cells and define novel cis-regulatory sequences supporting guard cell specific gene expression. We find that ABA triggers extensive and dynamic chromatin remodeling in guard cells, roots, and mesophyll cells with clear patterns of cell-type specificity. DNA motif analyses uncover binding sites for distinct transcription factors enriched in ABA-induced and ABA-repressed chromatin. We identify the ABF/AREB bZIP-type transcription factors that are required for ABA-triggered chromatin opening in guard cells and implicate the inhibition of a set of bHLH-type transcription factors in controlling ABA-repressed chromatin. Moreover, we demonstrate that ABA and CO2 induce distinct programs of chromatin remodeling. We provide insight into the control of guard cell chromatin dynamics and propose that ABA-induced chromatin remodeling primes the genome for abiotic stress resistance.
Project description:Development of eukaryotic organisms is controlled by transcription factors that trigger specific and global changes in gene expression programmes. In plants, MADS-domain transcription factors act as master regulators of developmental switches and organ specification. However, the mechanisms by which these factors dynamically regulate the expression of their target genes at different developmental stages are still poorly understood. Here, we characterize the dynamic relationship of chromatin accessibility, gene expression and DNA-binding of two MADS-domain proteins during Arabidopsis flower development. The developmental dynamics of DNA-binding of APETALA1 and SEPALLATA3 is largely independent of chromatin accessibility, and our findings suggest that AP1 acts as M-bM-^@M-^Xpioneer factorM-bM-^@M-^Y that modulates chromatin accessibility, thereby facilitating access of other transcriptional regulators to their target genes. Our data provide a primer to the idea that cellular differentiation in plants can be associated to dynamic changes in chromatin accessibility, as consequence of the action of master transcription factors. We used the AP1-GR system to conduct DNaseI hypersensitivity experiments at different stages of flower development. Samples were generated from tissue in which the AP1-GR protein was induced using a treatment of 1 uM DEX to the shoot apex. The material was collect before treatment and 2, 4 and 8 days after treatment. As control, naked DNA from wild-type inflorescences was used. Experiments were done in two biological replicates. The GSE47981 includes expression data that are complementary to the data in the GSE46986 and GSE46894.
Project description:The exit from pluripotency or pluripotent-somatic transition (PST) landmarks an event of mammalian development, and is also a representative cell-fate transition model, but remains largely unresolved. Recently, we reported construction of robust JUN-induced PST completed in one cell cycle and whose dominant regulator SS18/BAFs (Brg1/Brahma-associated factors). However, the transition process in the chromatin architecture and the roles played by BAF are still unknown. Here we report the dynamic changes of chromatin accessibility during JUN-induced PST. Meanwhile, SS18/BAFs mediates PST process by relocating from pluripotent loci to AP-1 associated ones and once compromised, JUN fails to open chromatin and PST will be delayed. Furthermore, we show that the relocation of SS18/BAF partially relays on histone modification H3K27ac, instead of JUN-centric protein-protein interaction. These results reveal the orchestration of master transcription factor, epigenetic machine, and histone modification in the cell fate transition.