The multiple claims about reactivation of the embryonic stem cell (ESC) pluripotency factor OCT4 in somatic cells are highly controversial due to the fact that there is no direct evidence that OCT4 has a functional role in cells other than ESCs. Herein we demonstrate that smooth muscle cell (SMC)-specific knockout of Oct4 within atherosclerotic mice resulted in increased lesion size and multiple changes consistent with decreased plaque stability. SMC-lineage tracing studies showed that lesions from SMC-specific conditional Oct4 KO mice had a reduced number of SMCs likely due to impaired SMC migration. RNA-seq analysis of lesion specimens showed that loss of Oct4 in SMCs was associated with marked activation of genes associated with inflammation and suppression of genes associated with cell migration, a number of which were shown to be activated in cultured SMCs by the combination of hypoxia and oxidized phospholipids in an OCT4-dependent manner. Activation of Oct4 within SMCs was associated with hydroxymethylation of the Oct4 promoter and was HIF1a- and KLF4-dependent. Results provide the first genetic evidence that OCT4 plays a functional role in somatic cells and highlight the importance of further investigation of possible OCT4 functions in somatic cells. Overall design: In vivo: mRNA profiles of 18 week fed Western diet wild type (WT) and Oct4-/- mice were generated by deep sequencing, four animals per group, using Illumina HiSeq 2000. In vitro: a smooth muscle cell wild type (WT) and Oct4-/- (KO) primary aortic cell line was generated and used. mRNA profiles were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicates, using Illumina HiSeq 2000, for the following groups: WT-normoxia-vehicle; WT-normoxia-POVPC; KO-normoxia-vehicle; KO-normoxia-POVP; WT-hypoxia-vehicle; WT-hypoxia-POVPC; KO-hypoxia-vehicle; and KO-hypoxia-POVPC.
Perivascular cell-specific knockout of the stem cell pluripotency gene Oct4 inhibits angiogenesis.
Specimen part, Cell line, Treatment, Subject
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Long noncoding RNAs regulate adipogenesis.
Specimen part, Disease
View SamplesAdipogenesis involves the regulation of hundreds of genes by several well-studied proteins, but the role of long, noncoding RNAs in this process has not been defined. We track the regulation of hundreds of lncRNAs during adipocyte differentiation, and find several that are essential for this process.
Long noncoding RNAs regulate adipogenesis.
Specimen part, Disease
View SamplesAdipogenesis involves the regulation of hundreds of genes by several well-studied proteins, but the role of long, noncoding RNAs in this process has not been defined. We track the regulation of hundreds of lncRNAs during adipocyte differentiation, and find several that are essential for this process. Overall design: We extractedbrown and white primary adipocytes and pre-adipocytes and profiled lncRNA expresssion via mRNA-Seq. We also profiled cultured, differentiated adipocytes to verify that we could recapitulate the adipocyte expression profile in preparation for a loss-of-function screen for essential adipogenic lincRNAs.
Long noncoding RNAs regulate adipogenesis.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesThe following abstract from the submitted manuscript describes the major findings of this work.
A role for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1 in the control of mitochondrial dynamics during postnatal cardiac growth.
Specimen part
View SamplesSingle-cell RNA-seq analysis of pre- and postnatal mouse endolymphatic sac demonstrates two types of differentiated cells distinguished by their mRNA expression signatures. Overall design: mRNA-seq profiles from 213 single cells from embryonic day 12.5, 16.5, postnatal day 5 and 30 mouse endolymphatic sac were analyzed
Molecular architecture underlying fluid absorption by the developing inner ear.
Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesBreast tumorigenesis involves modulation of gene expression.
Nucleotide excision repair deficiency is intrinsic in sporadic stage I breast cancer.
Specimen part, Subject
View SamplesCompelling evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of heart failure, including defects in the substrate oxidation, and the electron transport chain (ETC) and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). However, whether such changes occur early in the development of heart failure, and are potentially involved in the pathologic events that lead to cardiac dysfunction is unknown. To address this question, we conducted transcriptomic/metabolomics profiling in hearts of mice with two progressive stages of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypetrophy: i) cardiac hypertrophy with preserved ventricular function achieved via transverse aortic constriction for 4 weeks (TAC) and ii) decompensated cardiac hypertrophy or heart failure (HF) caused by combining 4 wk TAC with a small apical myocardial infarction. Transcriptomic analyses revealed, as shown previously, downregulated expression of genes involved in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation in both TAC and HF hearts compared to sham-operated control hearts. Surprisingly, however, there were very few changes in expression of genes involved in other mitochondrial energy transduction pathways, ETC, or OXPHOS. Metabolomic analyses demonstrated significant alterations in pathway metabolite levels in HF (but not in TAC), including elevations in acylcarnitines, a subset of amino acids, and the lactate/pyruvate ratio. In contrast, the majority of organic acids were lower than controls. This metabolite profile suggests bottlenecks in the carbon substrate input to the TCA cycle. This transcriptomic/metabolomic profile was markedly different from that of mice PGC-1a/b deficiency in which a global downregulation of genes involved in mitochondrial ETC and OXPHOS was noted. In addition, the transcriptomic/metabolomic signatures of HF differed markedly from that of the exercise-trained mouse heart. We conclude that in contrast to current dogma, alterations in mitochondrial metabolism that occur early in the development of heart failure reflect largely post-transcriptional mechanisms resulting in impedance to substrate flux into the TCA cycle, reflected by alterations in the metabolome.
Energy metabolic reprogramming in the hypertrophied and early stage failing heart: a multisystems approach.
Sex, Age, Specimen part
View SamplesSuccessful host defense against pathogens requires innate immune recognition of the correct pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) to trigger the appropriate gene program tailored to the pathogen. While many PRR pathways have been shown to contribute to the innate immune response to specific pathogens, the relative importance of each pathway for the complete transcriptional program elicited has not been examined in detail. Herein, we used RNA-sequencing with wildtype and mutant macrophages to delineate the innate immune pathways responsible for the early transcriptional response to Staphylococcus aureus, a ubiquitous microorganism that can activate a wide variety of PRRs. Unexpectedly, only two PRR pathways – the Toll-like receptor (TLR) and Stimulator of Interferon Gene (STING) pathways - were identified as dominant regulators of approximately 95% of the genes that were potently induced within the first four hours of macrophage infection with live S. aureus. TLR signaling predominantly activated an inflammatory program, STING signaling activated an antiviral/type I interferon response, and both pathways contributed to a program linking innate and adaptive immunity. Only a small number of genes were induced in the absence of TLR or STING signaling, and these genes possessed a strong hypoxia signature. STING pathway activation required live S. aureus and was largely dependent on the DNA sensor cyclic guanosine-adenosine synthase (cGAS) recognition of S. aureus DNA. Interestingly, using a cutaneous infection model, we found that the TLR and STING pathways played opposite roles in host defense to S. aureus, with TLR signaling being required for protective interleukin (IL)-1? and neutrophil recruitment and STING signaling having an opposite effect. These results provide novel insights into the complex interplay of innate immune signaling pathways triggered byS. aureus and uncover opposing roles of TLR and STING in cutaneous host defense to S. aureus. Overall design: Files are labeled according to the figures in which they were used. Note, that many data files were used in multiple figures or figure panels. Files are labeled by genotype of macrophages (WT=wildtype; KO= StingGt/Gt; DKO=MyD88-/-TRIF-/-) and whether the macrophages were treated with live (Live) or heat killed (HK) or uninfected (zero hour). Labeling of time points is in the order of "minutes_replicate #." For example, "WT_HK_30_2" indicates that this is wild type mouse macrophages stimulated with heat killed bacteria at the 30-minute time point and is replicate number 2. Reads were converted into RPKM, and the RPKM for all replicates listed for a given time point were averaged to obtain the average RPKM that was used for figures and analyses. For samples listed as contributing to either figure 3 or supplemental figure 2, the replicates that do NOT end in either KO_analysis nor DKO analysis were used to determine induced genes in wild type macrophages. In contrast, the replicates that end in KO_analysis or DKO_analysis were used to determine dependence on either STING signaling or MyD88/TRIF signaling, respectively. If a replicate was used in the STING or MyD88/TRIF dependence analysis for both live and heat-killed S. aureus, "live_and_hk" was added after the dependence analysis it contributed to. Some 0h samples were used in both live and heat-killed analyses.
Opposing roles of Toll-like receptor and cytosolic DNA-STING signaling pathways for Staphylococcus aureus cutaneous host defense.
Sex, Specimen part, Cell line, Subject
View SamplesIn this study we have investigated the gene expression profiles of three different types of subclone all generated by single cell cloning of the same parental EBV positive Burkitt lymphoma cell line Awia-BL. These included EBV negative clones which have lost the virus episome, EBV positive clones with a conventional Latency I form of infection and EBV positive clones with an atypical Wp-restricted form of infection.
Different patterns of Epstein-Barr virus latency in endemic Burkitt lymphoma (BL) lead to distinct variants within the BL-associated gene expression signature.
Specimen part, Cell line
View Samples