Project description:We are interested in deciphering the mechanism by which DNA methylation in late B cell differentiation affects humoral immune response. We were using enzymatic-methyl sequencing (EM-seq) and chose to study a very rare immunodeficiency called ICF type 4, where a point mutation in a gene encoding the protein HELLS causes a lack of both circulating antibodies and memory B cells in human. HELLS is a chromatin remodeler, that allows for DNA methylation to occur.
Project description:We are interested in deciphering the mechanism by which DNA methylation in late B cell differentiation affects humoral immune response. We chose to study a very rare immunodeficiency called ICF type 4, where a point mutation in a gene encoding the protein HELLS causes a lack of both circulating antibodies and memory B cells in human. HELLS is a chromatin remodeler, that allows for DNA methylation to occur. Using a Hells conditional knock-out in B cells, we measured the kinetics of the immune B cell response, following immunization with NP-CGG, and show a lack of memory and plasma cells accompanied by a defect in germinal center maintenance, but not by its formation. Single cell RNAseq of cell sorted naive, germinal center B cells and memory B cells at day 7 and day 14 post NP-immunization helped us better characterize the phenotype.
Project description:We used novel genetically engineered mouse models to investigate the role of HELLS during tumorigenesis. Loss of HELLS drastically decreased the incidence of retinoblastoma, delayed tumor progression, and increased overall survival. Tumors from Rb1/p107 DKO and Rb1/p107/Hells TKO mice were analyzed for gene expression using RNA-seq.
Project description:We used novel genetically engineered mouse models to investigate the role of HELLS during tumorigenesis. Loss of HELLS drastically decreased the incidence of retinoblastoma, delayed tumor progression, and increased overall survival. Retinae from Rb1/p107 DKO and Rb1/p107/Hells TKO mice at postnatal day 21 were analyzed for gene expression using RNA-seq.
Project description:Heritable epigenetic factors can contribute to complex disease etiology. In this study we examine, on a global scale, the contribution of DNA methylation to complex traits that are precursors to heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. We profiled DNA methylation patterns in the liver using bisulfite sequencing in 90 mouse inbred strains, genome-wide expression levels, proteomics, metabolomics and sixty-eight clinical traits, and performed epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS). We found associations with numerous clinical traits including bone mineral density, plasma cholesterol, insulin resistance, gene expression, protein and metabolite levels. A large proportion of associations were unique to EWAS and were not identified using GWAS. Methylation levels were regulated by genetics largely in cis, but we also found evidence of trans regulation, and we demonstrate that genetic variation in the methionine synthase reductase gene Mtrr affects methylation of hundreds of CpGs throughout the genome. Our results indicate that natural variation in methylation levels contributes to the etiology of complex clinical traits. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing in mouse strains using liver genomic DNA
Project description:The chromatin-remodeling enzyme helicase lymphoid-specific (HELLS) interacts with cell division cycle-associated 7 (CDCA7) on nucleosomes and is involved in the regulation of DNA methylation in higher organisms. Mutations in these genes cause immunodeficiency, centromeric instability, and facial anomalies (ICF) syndrome, which also results in DNA hypomethylation of satellite repeat regions. We investigated the functional domains of human CDCA7 in HELLS using several mutant CDCA7 proteins. The central region is critical for binding to HELLS, activation of ATPase, and nucleosome sliding activities of HELLS-CDCA7. The N-terminal region tends to inhibit ATPase activity. The C-terminal 4CXXC-type zinc finger domain contributes to CpG and hemimethylated CpG DNA preference for DNA-dependent HELLS-CDCA7 ATPase activity. Furthermore, CDCA7 showed a binding preference to DNA containing hemimethylated CpG, and replication-dependent pericentromeric heterochromatin foci formation of CDCA7 with HELLS was observed in mouse embryonic stem cells; however, all these phenotypes were lost in the case of an ICF syndrome mutant of CDCA7 mutated in the zinc finger domain. Thus, CDCA7 most likely plays a role in the recruitment of HELLS, activates its chromatin remodeling function, and efficiently induces DNA methylation, especially at hemimethylated replication sites.
Project description:We used novel genetically engineered mouse models to investigate the role of HELLS during tumorigenesis. Loss of HELLS drastically decreased the incidence of retinoblastoma, delayed tumor progression, and increased overall survival. Retinae from Rb1/p107 DKO and Rb1/p107/Hells TKO mice at postnatal day 21 were analyzed for gene expression using ATAC-seq.