"Conserved long noncoding RNAs transcriptionally regulated by Oct4 and Nanog modulate pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells".
Jameelah S. Mohamed 1, Philip M. Gaughwin 2, Bing Lim 1, 3, Paul Robson 1, 4 and Leonard Lipovich 5, @
1 Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Genome Institute
of Singapore, 138672 Singapore
2 Neuronal Survival Unit, Lund University, 221-84 Lund,
Sweden
3 Harvard Institutes of Medicine, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
4 Department of Biological Sciences, National University
of Singapore, 117543 Singapore
5 Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State
University, Detroit, Michigan 48201 USA
@ Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State
University, 3228 Scott Hall, 540 E. Canfield Street, Detroit, MI 48201
USA;
e-mail: llipovich@med.wayne.edu
fax: (313) 577-5218.
The genetic networks controlling stem cell identity are the focus of intense interest, due to their obvious therapeutic potential as well as exceptional relevance to models of early development. Genome-wide mapping of transcriptional networks in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) reveals that many endogenous noncoding RNA molecules, including long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), may play a role in controlling the pluripotent state. We performed a genome-wide screen that combined full-length mESC transcriptome genomic mapping data with chromatin immunoprecipitation genomic location maps of the key mESC transcription factors Oct4 and Nanog. We henceforth identified four mESC-expressed, conserved lncRNA-encoding genes residing proximally to active genomic binding sites of Oct4 and Nanog. Accordingly, these four genes have potential roles in pluripotency. We show that two of these lncRNAs, AK028326 (Oct4-activated) and AK141205 (Nanog-repressed), are direct targets of Oct4 and Nanog. Most importantly, we demonstrate that these lncRNAs are not merely controlled by mESC transcription factors, but that they themselves regulate developmental state: knockdown and overexpression of these transcripts lead to robust changes in Oct4 and Nanog mRNA levels, in addition to alterations in cellular lineage-specific gene expression and in the pluripotency of mESCs. We further characterize AK028326 as a co-activator of Oct4 in a regulatory feedback loop. These results for the first time implicate lncRNAs in the modulation of mESC pluripotency and expand the established mESC regulatory network model to include functional lncRNAs directly controlled by key mESC transcription factors.
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1. Each cell retains all of its embryonic genes for a lifetime.
2. Controls for embryonic genes are often absent in adults.
3. Uncontrolled embryonic genes can replicate wildly.
4. Replicating genes participate in intra-cellular competition.
5. The basis for gene competition is selective transcription.
6. MicroRNAs can reprogram embryomic transcription.
7. Gene reprogramming can produce normal phenotypes.
8. Normal phenotypes can by-pass chromosomal lesions.
9. MicroRNA therapy may need to be permanent.
10. Transplantation of microRNAs could be preferred.
1. Pathways within cell genomes involve a flow of information.
2. Information can flow by direct contact or by third parties.
3. Direct contact within whole genomes is difficult to regulate.
4. DNA-DNA direct contects are influenced by agents.
5. Nuclear agents include hydrophilic ionic and hydrophobic conforming ligands.
6. Third parties within genomes involve RNAs and proteins.
7. RNAs and proteins are easy to regulate or reverse.
8. Information can be shared, lost, or transformed.
9. System information can be hidden during system isolation.
10. Local information can be permanently lost during system entropy.
Links to Current
Research in Euchromatin:
Links to
Euchromatin Activator RNA Reviews:
Links to
Euchromatin Activator RNA Research:
Links to Ultrastructural
Probes of DNase I-Sensitive Sites:
Links to
RNA as a Therapeutic Agent:
Links to Hodgkin Lymphoma
Immuno-Pathology:
Links to Activated
T-Lymphocyte Immunotherapy:
Links to Medical
Systems Biology:
Links to Selective
Gene Transcription:
Links to RNA-Induced
Epigenetics:
Links to RNA-Induced
Embryogenesis:
Links to RNA and
Biological Causality:
Links to Reprogramming
and Neoplasia:
A Brief History of Activator RNA:
"Ultrastructural
Probes of Active DNA Sites, and the RNA Activators of DNA".
(PowerPoint Presentation).
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