Search

Haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) produce all blood lineages and arise from the haemogenic endothelium (HE) during embryogenesis. Here the authors show that genes specific to cilia formation are required for HSPC development in the HE in zebrafish through transduction of Notch signal.

It is well known that various developmental signals play diverse roles in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) production; however, how these signaling pathways are orchestrated remains incompletely understood. Here, we report that Rab5c is essential for HSPC specification by endocytic trafficking of Notch and AKT signaling in zebrafish embryos. Rab5c deficiency leads to defects in HSPC production. Mechanistically, Rab5c regulates hemogenic endothelium (HE) specification by endocytic trafficking of Notch ligands and receptor. We further show that the interaction between Rab5c and Appl1 in the endosome is required for the survival of HE in the ventral wall of the dorsal aorta through AKT signaling. Interestingly, Rab5c overactivation can also lead to defects in HSPC production, which is attributed to excessive endolysosomal trafficking inducing Notch signaling defect. Taken together, our findings establish a previously unrecognized role of Rab5c-mediated endocytic trafficking in HSPC development and provide new insights into how spatiotemporal signals are orchestrated to accurately execute cell fate transition.

Technological advances are important for innovative biological research. Development of molecular tools for DNA manipulation, such as zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and the clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas), has revolutionized genome editing. These approaches can be used to develop potential therapeutic strategies to effectively treat heritable diseases. In the last few years, substantial progress has been made in CRISPR/Cas technology, including technical improvements and wide application in many model systems. This review describes recent advancements in genome editing with a particular focus on CRISPR/Cas, covering the underlying principles, technological optimization, and its application in zebrafish and other model organisms, disease modeling, and gene therapy used for personalized medicine.

SUN (Sad1 and UNC84 domain containing)-domain proteins are reported to reside on the nuclear membrane playing distinct roles in nuclear dynamics. SUN5 is a new member of the SUN family, with little knowledge regarding its function. Here, we generated Sun5−/− mice and found that male mice were infertile. Most Sun5-null spermatozoa displayed a globozoospermia-like phenotype but they were actually acephalic spermatozoa. Additional studies revealed that SUN5 was located in the neck of the spermatozoa, anchoring sperm head to the tail, and without functional SUN5 the sperm head to tail coupling apparatus was detached from nucleus during spermatid elongation. Finally, we found that healthy heterozygous offspring could be obtained via intracytoplasmic injection of Sun5-mutated sperm heads for both male mice and patients. Our studies reveal the essential role of SUN5 in anchoring sperm head to the tail and provide a promising way to treat this kind of acephalic spermatozoa-associated male infertility.

Potato virus Y (PVY) infections often lead to altered numbers of host plant chloroplasts, as well as changes in morphology and inhibited photosynthesis. The multifunctional protein helper component-proteinase, HC-Pro, has been identified in PVY-infected leaf chloroplasts. We used yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays to demonstrate that HC-Pro can interact with the chloroplast division-related factor NtMinD in yeast and tobacco cells, respectively. In addition, we confirmed that residues 271 to 314 in NtMinD are necessary for its interaction with PVY HC-Pro in a yeast two-hybrid analysis using four NtMinD deletion mutants. These residues are necessary for the dimerization of NtMinD, which plays a vital role in chloroplast division. Thus, PVY HC-Pro may affect NtMinD activity by inhibiting the formation of NtMinD homodimers, and this may interfere with chloroplast division and contribute to changes in the numbers of chloroplast per cell observed in PVY-infected plants.

During vertebrate embryogenesis, fetal hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) exhibit expansion and differentiation properties in a supportive hematopoietic niche. To profile the developmental landscape of fetal HSPCs and their local niche, here, using single-cell RNA-sequencing, we deciphered a dynamic atlas covering 28,777 cells and 9 major cell types (23 clusters) of zebrafish caudal hematopoietic tissue (CHT). We characterized four heterogeneous HSPCs with distinct lineage priming and metabolic gene signatures. Furthermore, we investigated the regulatory mechanism of CHT niche components for HSPC development, with a focus on the transcription factors and ligand-receptor networks involved in HSPC expansion. Importantly, we identified an endothelial cell-specific G protein-coupled receptor 182, followed by in vivo and in vitro functional validation of its evolutionally conserved role in supporting HSPC expansion in zebrafish and mice. Finally, comparison between zebrafish CHT and human fetal liver highlighted the conservation and divergence across evolution. These findings enhance our understanding of the regulatory mechanism underlying hematopoietic niche for HSPC expansion in vivo and provide insights into improving protocols for HSPC expansion in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear receptor corepressors (Ncors) are important for developmental and homeostatic processes in vertebrates, which exert transcriptional repression by coordinating with histone deacetylases. However, little is known about their roles in definitive hematopoiesis. In this study, we show that in zebrafish, ncor2 is required for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) development by repressing fos-vegfd signaling. ncor2 is specifically expressed in the aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) region in zebrafish embryos. ncor2 deficiency reduced the population of HSCs in both the AGM region and T cells in the thymus. Mechanistically, ncor2 knockdown upregulated fos transcription by modulating the acetylation level in the fos promoter region, which then enhanced Vegfd signaling. Consequently, the augmented Vegfd signaling induced Notch signaling to promote the arterial endothelial fate, therefore, possibly repressing the hemogenic endothelial specification, which is a prerequisite for HSC emergence. Thus, our findings identify a novel regulatory mechanism for Ncor2 through Fos-Vegfd-Notch signaling cascade during HSC development in zebrafish embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thymus is mainly comprised of thymic epithelial cells (TECs), which form the unique thymic epithelial microenvironment essential for intrathymic T-cell development. Foxn1, a member of the forkhead transcription factor family, is required for establishing a functional thymic rudiment. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the function of Foxn1 are still largely unclear. Here, we show that Foxn1 functions in thymus development through Mcm2 in the zebrafish. We demonstrate that, in foxn1 knockdown embryos, the thymic rudiment is reduced and T-cell development is impaired. Genome-wide expression profiling shows that a number of genes, including some known thymopoiesis genes, are dysregulated during the initiation of the thymus primordium and immigration of T-cell progenitors to the thymus. Functional and epistatic studies show that mcm2 and cdca7 are downstream of Foxn1, and mcm2 is a direct target gene of Foxn1 in TECs. Finally, we find that the thymus defects in foxn1 and mcm2 morphants might be attributed to reduced cell proliferation rather than apoptosis. Our results reveal that the foxn1-mcm2 axis plays a central role in the genetic regulatory network controlling thymus development in zebrafish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, a new pattern of anomalous random telegraph noise (RTN), named “reversal RTN” (rRTN) induced by single oxide trap, is observed in the drain current of nanoscale metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) with high-k gate dielectrics. Under each gate voltage, the rRTN data exhibit two zones with identical amplitudes but reversal time constants. This abnormal switching behavior can be explained by the theory of complete 4-state trap model (with two stable states and two metastable states), rather than the simple 2-state or improved 3-state trap model. The results provide a direct experimental evidence of the existence of two metastable states in a single oxide trap, contributing to the comprehensive understanding of trap-related reliability and variability issues in nanoscale transistors.

The multifunctional protein helper component proteinase (HC-Pro) is thought to interfere with the activity of the 20S proteasome; however, no sites of interaction have been identified for either protein. Here, we first show that the Potato virus Y (PVY) HC-Pro protein can interact with three Arabidopsis 20S proteasome subunits (PAA, PBB, and PBE), using a yeast two-hybrid system and the bimolecular fluorescence complement assay. In addition, yeast two-hybrid analysis of the interaction between several mutant subunits of the 20S proteasome and PVY HC-Pro confirmed that residues 81 to 140 of PAA, 1 to 80 of PBB, and 160 to 274 of PBE are necessary for binding PAA, PBB, and PBE to PVY HC-Pro, respectively. Deletion mutant analysis of PVY HC-Pro showed that the N terminus (residues 1 to 97) is necessary for its interaction with three Arabidopsis 20S proteasome subunits. The ability of HC-Pro to interact and interfere with the activity of the 20S proteasome may help explain the molecular basis of its multifunctional character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammatory signaling has been shown to be essential for stress hematopoiesis in adult bone marrow, either through increasing proliferation or by directing differentiation of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) toward myeloid or lymphoid lineages. However, its role in embryonic normal hematopoiesis has been unknown. Here, we demonstrate that in both zebrafish and mouse embryos, inflammatory signaling is necessary and sufficient for HSPC emergence, in the absence of infection or pathological inflammation. Mechanistically, inflammatory signaling regulates hemogenic endothelium-derived HSPC development through a conserved Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-nuclear factor K-light-chain enhancer of activated B core (NF-κB) signaling, which then promotes Notch activity, a well-known signal required for HSPC specification in vertebrates. Our findings establish a previously unrecognized link between inflammatory signaling and HSPC emergence, and provide new insights into regenerative medicine and novel therapies to treat innate immune-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]