來自美國加州大學(xué)舊金山分校格拉斯通研究所的研究人員揭示出利用胚胎心臟細(xì)胞構(gòu)建出完全功能性的心臟所需的上百個(gè)基因開關(guān)的精確開閉次序和時(shí)間。這項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)有助于對一些人先天性心臟病的遺傳基礎(chǔ)產(chǎn)生新的認(rèn)識。
在一項(xiàng)刊登于Cell期刊上的研究中,研究人員利用干細(xì)胞技術(shù)、下一代DNA測序和計(jì)算工具來將心臟細(xì)胞如何變成心臟的“基因組藍(lán)圖”拼接在一起。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)提供新的希望來對抗威脅生命的心臟缺陷,如心律不齊和室間隔缺損(ventricular septal defect)。
在這項(xiàng)研究中,研究人員獲取來自小鼠的胚胎干細(xì)胞,然后通過在盤碟中模擬胚胎發(fā)育而讓它們分化為跳動的心臟細(xì)胞。接著,他們提取發(fā)育中的心臟細(xì)胞和成熟的心臟細(xì)胞內(nèi)的DNA,并利用一種被稱作ChIP-seq的高級基因測序技術(shù)來觀察DNA中的表觀遺傳標(biāo)記。
論文共同第一作者Jeffrey Alexander說,“但是發(fā)現(xiàn)這些標(biāo)記只是成功的一半,因此我們接著不得不*它們編碼心臟形成的哪些方面。為此,我們利用格拉斯通研究所生物信息學(xué)核心(Gladstone Bioinformatics Core)的計(jì)算能力。這允許我們獲得基因測序中所收集的大量數(shù)據(jù),并且將這些數(shù)據(jù)組裝成一種可讀的和有意義的將心臟細(xì)胞如何變成心臟的藍(lán)圖。”
研究人員獲得了一些意料之外的發(fā)現(xiàn)。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)在心臟細(xì)胞中,一組基因似乎以一種協(xié)作的方式一起發(fā)揮作用:在胚胎發(fā)育的指定時(shí)間,這組基因一起開啟和關(guān)閉。他們不僅鑒定出很多參與心臟形成的新基因,而且也精確地確定地這些新發(fā)現(xiàn)的基因如何與之前已知的基因相互作用。
繪制出心臟的基因組藍(lán)圖對人類健康的影響非常深遠(yuǎn)。鑒于研究人員理解這些基因如何控制心臟形成,他們能夠開始將心臟病如何破壞這種調(diào)節(jié)的細(xì)節(jié)匯聚在一起。最終,他們能夠?qū)ふ爷煼▉碜柚?、中斷或抵消患有先天性心臟病的兒童體內(nèi)這種調(diào)節(jié)遭到的破壞。
英文原文:
Dynamic and Coordinated Epigenetic Regulation of Developmental Transitions in the Cardiac Lineage
Joseph A. Wamstad, Jeffrey M. Alexander, Rebecca M. Truty, Avanti Shrikumar, Fugen Li, Kirsten E. Eilertson, Huiming Ding, John N. Wylie, Alexander R. Pico, John A. Capra, Genevieve Erwin, Steven J. Kattman, Gordon M. Keller, Deepak Srivastava, Stuart S. Levine, Katherine S. Pollard, Alisha K. Holloway, Laurie A. Boyer, Benoit G. Bruneau
Heart development is exquisitely sensitive to the precise temporal regulation of thousands of genes that govern developmental decisions during differentiation. However, we currently lack a detailed understanding of how chromatin and gene expression patterns are coordinated during developmental transitions in the cardiac lineage. Here, we interrogated the transc**tome and several histone modifications across the genome during defined stages of cardiac differentiation. We find distinct chromatin patterns that are coordinated with stage-specific expression of functionally related genes, including many human disease-associated genes. Moreover, we discover a novel preactivation chromatin pattern at the promoters of genes associated with heart development and cardiac function. We further identify stage-specific distal enhancer elements and find enriched DNA binding motifs within these regions that predict sets of transc**tion factors that orchestrate cardiac differentiation. Together, these findings form a basis for understanding developmentally regulated chromatin transitions during lineage commitment and the molecular etiology of congenital heart disease.
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