scholarly journals A human iPSC-astroglia neurodevelopmental model reveals divergent transcriptomic patterns in schizophrenia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Szabo ◽  
Ibrahim A. Akkouh ◽  
Matthieu Vandenberghe ◽  
Jordi Requena Osete ◽  
Timothy Hughes ◽  
...  

AbstractWhile neurodevelopmental abnormalities have been associated with schizophrenia (SCZ), the role of astroglia in disease pathophysiology remains poorly understood. In the present study, we used a human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived astrocyte model to investigate the temporal patterns of astroglia differentiation during developmental stages critical for SCZ using RNA sequencing. The model generated astrocyte-specific gene expression patterns during differentiation that corresponded well to astroglia-specific expression signatures of in vivo cortical fetal development. Using this model we identified SCZ-specific expression dynamics, and found that SCZ-associated differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in the medial prefrontal cortex, striatum, and temporal lobe, targeting VWA5A and ADAMTS19. In addition, SCZ astrocytes displayed alterations in calcium signaling, and significantly decreased glutamate uptake and metalloproteinase activity relative to controls. These results implicate novel transcriptional dynamics in astrocyte differentiation in SCZ together with functional changes that are potentially important biological components of SCZ pathology.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Szabo ◽  
Ibrahim A. Akkouh ◽  
Matthieu Vandenberghe ◽  
Jordi Requena Osete ◽  
Timothy Hughes ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWhile neurodevelopmental abnormalities have been associated with schizophrenia (SCZ), the role of astroglia in disease pathophysiology remains poorly understood. In this study we used a human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived astrocyte model to investigate the temporal patterns of astroglia differentiation during developmental stages critical for SCZ using RNA-sequencing. The model generated astrocyte-specific patterns of gene expression during differentiation, and demonstrated that these patterns correspond well to astroglia-specific expression signatures of in vivo cortical fetal development. Applying this model, we were able to identify SCZ-specific expression dynamics in human astrocytes, and found that SCZ-associated differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in the medial prefrontal cortex, striatum, and temporal lobe, targeting VWA5A and ADAMTS19. In addition, SCZ astrocytes displayed alterations in calcium signaling, and significantly decreased glutamate uptake and metalloproteinase activity relative to controls. These results provide strong support for the validity of our astrocyte model, and implicate novel transcriptional dynamics in astrocyte differentiation in SCZ together with functional changes that are potentially important biological components of SCZ pathology.


PLoS Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. e3001017
Author(s):  
Xiaoying Fan ◽  
Dong Tang ◽  
Yuhan Liao ◽  
Pidong Li ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
...  

The development of next generation sequencing (NGS) platform-based single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) techniques has tremendously changed biological researches, while there are still many questions that cannot be addressed by them due to their short read lengths. We developed a novel scRNA-seq technology based on third-generation sequencing (TGS) platform (single-cell amplification and sequencing of full-length RNAs by Nanopore platform, SCAN-seq). SCAN-seq exhibited high sensitivity and accuracy comparable to NGS platform-based scRNA-seq methods. Moreover, we captured thousands of unannotated transcripts of diverse types, with high verification rate by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR)–coupled Sanger sequencing in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Then, we used SCAN-seq to analyze the mouse preimplantation embryos. We could clearly distinguish cells at different developmental stages, and a total of 27,250 unannotated transcripts from 9,338 genes were identified, with many of which showed developmental stage-specific expression patterns. Finally, we showed that SCAN-seq exhibited high accuracy on determining allele-specific gene expression patterns within an individual cell. SCAN-seq makes a major breakthrough for single-cell transcriptome analysis field.


Development ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 124 (11) ◽  
pp. 2203-2212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Furuta ◽  
D.W. Piston ◽  
B.L. Hogan

Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs) play crucial roles in a variety of developmental processes, but their functions during early vertebrate brain development are largely unknown. To investigate this problem, we have compared by in situ hybridization the expression of five Bmp genes belonging to the Drosophila Decapentaplegic (Bmp2 and Bmp4) and 60A subgroups (Bmp5, Bmp6 and Bmp7). Striking co-expression of these Bmps is observed within the dorsomedial telencephalon, coincident with a future site of choroid plexus development. Bmp co-expression overlaps that of Msx1 and Hfh4, and is complementary to that of Bf1. The domain of Bmp co-expression is also associated with limited growth of the neuroectoderm, as revealed by morphological observation, reduced cell proliferation, and increased local programmed cell death. In vitro experiments using explants from the embryonic lateral telencephalic neuroectoderm reveal that exogenous BMP proteins (BMP4 and BMP2) induce expression of Msx1 and inhibit Bf1 expression, a finding consistent with their specific expression patterns in vivo. Moreover, BMP proteins locally inhibit cell proliferation and increase apoptosis in the explants. These results provide evidence that BMPs function during regional morphogenesis of the dorsal telencephalon by regulating specific gene expression, cell proliferation and local cell death.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (15) ◽  
pp. 3679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Chen ◽  
Alyne Simões ◽  
Zujian Chen ◽  
Yan Zhao ◽  
Xinming Wu ◽  
...  

Wounds within the oral mucosa are known to heal more rapidly than skin wounds. Recent studies suggest that differences in the microRNAome profiles may underlie the exceptional healing that occurs in oral mucosa. Here, we test whether skin wound-healing can be accelerating by increasing the levels of oral mucosa-specific microRNAs. A panel of 57 differentially expressed high expresser microRNAs were identified based on our previously published miR-seq dataset of paired skin and oral mucosal wound-healing [Sci. Rep. (2019) 9:7160]. These microRNAs were further grouped into 5 clusters based on their expression patterns, and their differential expression was confirmed by TaqMan-based quantification of LCM-captured epithelial cells from the wound edges. Of these 5 clusters, Cluster IV (consisting of 8 microRNAs, including miR-31) is most intriguing due to its tissue-specific expression pattern and temporal changes during wound-healing. The in vitro functional assays show that ectopic transfection of miR-31 consistently enhanced keratinocyte proliferation and migration. In vivo, miR-31 mimic treatment led to a statistically significant acceleration of wound closure. Our results demonstrate that wound-healing can be enhanced in skin through the overexpression of microRNAs that are highly expressed in the privileged healing response of the oral mucosa.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 776
Author(s):  
Shipra Kumari ◽  
Bashistha Kumar Kanth ◽  
Ju young Ahn ◽  
Jong Hwa Kim ◽  
Geung-Joo Lee

Genome-wide transcriptome analysis using RNA-Seq of Lilium longiflorum revealed valuable genes responding to biotic stresses. WRKY transcription factors are regulatory proteins playing essential roles in defense processes under environmental stresses, causing considerable losses in flower quality and production. Thirty-eight WRKY genes were identified from the transcriptomic profile from lily genotypes, exhibiting leaf blight caused by Botrytis elliptica. Lily WRKYs have a highly conserved motif, WRKYGQK, with a common variant, WRKYGKK. Phylogeny of LlWRKYs with homologous genes from other representative plant species classified them into three groups- I, II, and III consisting of seven, 22, and nine genes, respectively. Base on functional annotation, 22 LlWRKY genes were associated with biotic stress, nine with abiotic stress, and seven with others. Sixteen unique LlWRKY were studied to investigate responses to stress conditions using gene expression under biotic and abiotic stress treatments. Five genes—LlWRKY3, LlWRKY4, LlWRKY5, LlWRKY10, and LlWRKY12—were substantially upregulated, proving to be biotic stress-responsive genes in vivo and in vitro conditions. Moreover, the expression patterns of LlWRKY genes varied in response to drought, heat, cold, and different developmental stages or tissues. Overall, our study provides structural and molecular insights into LlWRKY genes for use in the genetic engineering in Lilium against Botrytis disease.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyuan Zhang ◽  
Liang Ye ◽  
Hao Xu ◽  
Qin Zhou ◽  
Bin Tan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) hold great promise for regenerative medicine and in drugs screening. Despite displaying key cardiomyocyte phenotypic characteristics, they more closely resemble fetal/neonatal cardiomyocytes and are still immature; these cells mainly rely on glucose as a substrate for metabolic energy, while mature cardiomyocytes mainly employ oxidative phosphorylation of fatty acids. Studies showed that the alteration of metabolism pattern from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation improve the maturity of hiPSC-CMs. As a transcription factor, accumulating evidences showed the important role of NRF2 in the regulation of energy metabolism, which directly regulates the expression of mitochondrial respiratory complexes. Therefore, we hypothesized that NRF2 is involved in the maturation of hiPSC-CMs. Methods The morphological and functional changes related to mitochondria and cell maturation were analyzed by knock-down and activation of NRF2. Results The results showed that the inhibition of NRF2 led to the retardation of cell maturation. The activation of NRF2 leads to a more mature hiPSC-CMs phenotype, as indicated by the increase of cardiac maturation markers, sarcomere length, calcium transient dynamics, the number and fusion events of mitochondria, and mitochondrial respiration. Bioinformatics analysis showed that in addition to metabolism-related genes, NRF2 also activates the expression of myocardial ion channels. Conclusions These findings indicated that NRF2 plays an important role in the maturation of hiPSC-CMs. The present work provides greater insights into the molecular regulation of hiPSC-CMs metabolism and theoretical basis in drug screening, disease modeling, and alternative treatment.


Blood ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 122 (12) ◽  
pp. 2047-2051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Mills ◽  
Kai Wang ◽  
Prasuna Paluru ◽  
Lei Ying ◽  
Lin Lu ◽  
...  

Key Points Normal induced pluripotent stem cells exhibit donor-specific gene expression signatures and the capacity for hematopoietic development. CNVs acquired during reprogramming or selection of rare CNVs present in the starting cell population may alter iPSC developmental potential.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Peinkofer ◽  
Martina Maass ◽  
Kurt Pfannkuche ◽  
Agapios Sachinidis ◽  
Stephan Baldus ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CM) are regarded as promising cell type for cardiac cell replacement therapy, but it is not known whether the developmental stage influences their persistence and functional integration in the host tissue, which are crucial for a long-term therapeutic benefit. To investigate this, we first tested the cell adhesion capability of murine iPSC-CM in vitro at three different time points during the differentiation process and then examined cell persistence and quality of electrical integration in the infarcted myocardium in vivo. Methods To test cell adhesion capabilities in vitro, iPSC-CM were seeded on fibronectin-coated cell culture dishes and decellularized ventricular extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds. After fixed periods of time, stably attached cells were quantified. For in vivo experiments, murine iPSC-CM expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein was injected into infarcted hearts of adult mice. After 6–7 days, viable ventricular tissue slices were prepared to enable action potential (AP) recordings in transplanted iPSC-CM and surrounding host cardiomyocytes. Afterwards, slices were lysed, and genomic DNA was prepared, which was then used for quantitative real-time PCR to evaluate grafted iPSC-CM count. Results The in vitro results indicated differences in cell adhesion capabilities between day 14, day 16, and day 18 iPSC-CM with day 14 iPSC-CM showing the largest number of attached cells on ECM scaffolds. After intramyocardial injection, day 14 iPSC-CM showed a significant higher cell count compared to day 16 iPSC-CM. AP measurements revealed no significant difference in the quality of electrical integration and only minor differences in AP properties between d14 and d16 iPSC-CM. Conclusion The results of the present study demonstrate that the developmental stage at the time of transplantation is crucial for the persistence of transplanted iPSC-CM. iPSC-CM at day 14 of differentiation showed the highest persistence after transplantation in vivo, which may be explained by a higher capability to adhere to the extracellular matrix.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasamin A. Jodat ◽  
Ting Zhang ◽  
Ziad Al Tanoury ◽  
Tom Kamperman ◽  
Kun Shi ◽  
...  

Abstract Engineering of biomimetic tissue implants provides an opportunity for repairing volumetric muscle loss (VML), beyond a tissue’s innate repair capacity. Here, we present thick, suturable, and pre-vascularized 3D muscle implants containing human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived myogenic precursor cells (hiPSC-MPCs), which can differentiate into skeletal muscle cells while maintaining a self-renewing pool. The formation of contractile myotubes and millimeter-long fibers from hiPSC-MPCs is achieved in chemically, mechanically, and structurally tailored extracellular matrix-based hydrogels, which can serve as scaffolds to ultimately organize the linear fusion of myoblasts. Embedded multi-material bioprinting is used to deposit complex patterns of perfusable vasculatures and aligned hiPSC-MPC channels within an endomysium-like supporting gel to recapitulate muscle architectural integrity in a facile yet highly rapid manner. Moreover, we demonstrate successful graft-host integration and de novo muscle formation upon in vivo implantation of pre-vascularized constructs within a VML model. This work pioneers the engineering of large pre-vascularized hiPSC-derived muscle tissues toward next generation VML regenerative therapies.


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