Roles of Protein Factors in Regulation of Imprinted Gene Expression
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations Spring 2011 Roles of Protein Factors in Regulation of Imprinted Gene Expression Shu Lin University of Pennsylvaina, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Lin, Shu, "Roles of Protein Factors in Regulation of Imprinted Gene Expression" (2011). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1546. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1546 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1546 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Roles of Protein Factors in Regulation of Imprinted Gene Expression Abstract Genomic imprinting is an important epigenetic phenomenon in which only one parental allele is expressed. Allele-specific DNA methylation often exists in imprinted control regions (ICRs) and is required for properly imprinted expression. Imprinting control in mammals involves an insulator mechanism that requires CTCF or a long ncRNA silencing mechanism. In this dissertation, I studied functions of protein factors in genomic imprinting. First, methylated DNA binding proteins are involved in maintenance of DNA methylation at imprinted loci and required for selective silencing of one specific allele. eW showed that MBD3 was localized to paternal H19 ICR. By RNA interference experiments in preimplantation embryos, we showed that MBD3 and its NuRD complex cofactor MTA2 were required for maintenance of the paternal methylation at the H19 ICR, and for silencing of the paternal H19. MTA2 is also required for Peg3 allelic expression. These results demonstrate new roles of the NuRD complex in genomic imprinting. Moreover, I showed allele-specific associations of MBD1 and Kaiso with imprinted loci, implicating functional requirements of these proteins in imprinted regulation. Second, I demonstrated colocalization of CTCF and the cohesin complex at three imprinted loci. CTCF and cohesins preferentially bind to the unmethylated allele of H19 ICR and Gtl2 DMR, and both alleles of KvDMR1 in mouse embryonic fibroblast cells (MEFs). To determine the functional importance of CTCF and cohesins, CTCF and cohesins were depleted in MEFs. Monoallelic expression of imprinted genes was maintained. However, mRNA levels for imprinted genes were typically increased; for H19 and Igf2 the increased expression was independent of the CTCF binding sites in the ICR. These experiments demonstrate an unappreciated role for CTCF and cohesins in the repression of imprinted genes in somatic cells. Finally, I have established F1 hybrid trophoblast stem (TS) cell lines that can be used as a model system to further study functions of protein factors in genomic imprinting and extraembryonic development. Overall, this dissertation has provided new and important insights into roles of protein factors in regulation of imprinted gene expression. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Biology First Advisor Marisa S. Bartolomei Keywords Genomic Imprinting, Imprinted gene, MBD3, MTA2, CTCF, Cohesin Subject Categories Biology This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1546 ROLES OF PROTEIN FACTORS IN REGULATION OF IMPRINTED GENE EXPRESSION Shu Lin A DISSERTATION in Biology Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2011 Supervisor of Dissertation Graduate Group Chairperson _______________________ _______________________ Marisa S. Bartolomei Paul D. Sniegowski Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Associate Professor of Biology Dissertation Committee Doris Wagner, Associate Professor of Biology Richard M. Schultz, Charles and William L. Day Distinguished Professor of Biology R. Scott Poethig, Professor of Biology Gerd A. Blobel, Professor of Pediatrics Jumin Zhou, Associate Professor of Gene Expression and Regulation, The Wistar Institute ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have helped and inspired me during my graduate study. I am deeply grateful to my advisor Dr. Marisa Bartolomei, whose help, stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me throughout the course of my research. I appreciate her enthusiasm for science and her extensive knowledge. I also thank Dr. Kimberly Reese, who first welcomed me in the lab and gave me lots of help for the MBD3 project. I would like to thank our collaborators: Dr. Richard Schultz and his postdoc Dr. Pengpeng Ma for their help with the MTA2 project; Dr. Paul Lieberman at the Wistar Institute and his former postdoc Dr. William Stedman for their support with the cohesin work; Dr. Anne Ferguson-Smith at University of Cambridge for sharing the information of the Gtl2 CTCF binding site. I want to thank my thesis committee members Drs. Doris Wagner, Richard Schultz, Scott Poethig, Gerd Blobel and Jumin Zhou. They have always provided me constructive suggestions to my projects and have been a constant source of encouragement during my graduate study. I would like to express my deeply appreciation to all the Bartolomei lab members. They have made the lab a convivial place to work and study. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Joanne Thorvaldsen who has offered me so much help and encouragement. I am grateful to Dr. Winifred Mak for her collaboration on the TS cell derivation. I want to thank Chris Krapp for his constant support. Drs. Sébastien Vigneau, Raluca Verona, Rocio Rivera, Mellissa Mann gave me advice in many experiments. I want to thank Lara ii Abramowitz, Dr. Nora Engel, Dr. Folami Ideraabdullah, Rob Plasschaert, Dr. Martha Susiarjo, Jamie Weaver and all past and current members of the Bartolomei lab for their help. I would also like to extend thanks to people who have been instrumental in completion of my dissertation work. I am grateful to Dr. Galina Filippova at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for sharing the siRNA protocol. I thank Dr. Mike Golding at Texas A&M Univeristy and Dr. M. Celeste Simon for sharing their expertise in virus-based RNAi. I thank all my friends and family. My deepest gratitude goes to my mother, Yufen Lin and my father, Jiting Lin for their love and support throughout my life; this dissertation is simply impossible without them. I would like to give my special thanks to Dr. Bing He, who is a wonderful husband and a great scientist. His love and support enabled me to complete this work. iii ABSTRACT ROLES OF PROTEIN FACTORS IN REGULATION OF IMPRINTED GENE EXPRESSION Shu Lin Marisa S. Bartolomei Genomic imprinting is an important epigenetic phenomenon in which only one parental allele is expressed. Allele-specific DNA methylation often exists in imprinted control regions (ICRs) and is required for properly imprinted expression. Imprinting control in mammals involves an insulator mechanism that requires CTCF or a long ncRNA silencing mechanism. In this dissertation, I studied functions of protein factors in genomic imprinting. First, methylated DNA binding proteins are involved in maintenance of DNA methylation at imprinted loci and required for selective silencing of one specific allele. We showed that MBD3 was localized to paternal H19 ICR. By RNA interference experiments in preimplantation embryos, we showed that MBD3 and its NuRD complex cofactor MTA2 were required for maintenance of the paternal methylation at the H19 ICR, and for silencing of the paternal H19. MTA2 is also required for Peg3 allelic expression. These results demonstrate new roles of the NuRD complex in genomic imprinting. Moreover, I showed allele-specific associations of MBD1 and Kaiso with imprinted loci, implicating functional requirements of these proteins in imprinted regulation. Second, I demonstrated colocalization of CTCF and the cohesin complex at three imprinted loci. CTCF and cohesins preferentially bind to the unmethylated allele of iv H19 ICR and Gtl2 DMR, and both alleles of KvDMR1 in mouse embryonic fibroblast cells (MEFs). To determine the functional importance of CTCF and cohesins, CTCF and cohesins were depleted in MEFs. Monoallelic expression of imprinted genes was maintained. However, mRNA levels for imprinted genes were typically increased; for H19 and Igf2 the increased expression was independent of the CTCF binding sites in the ICR. These experiments demonstrate an unappreciated role for CTCF and cohesins in the repression of imprinted genes in somatic cells. Finally, I have established F1 hybrid trophoblast stem (TS) cell lines that can be used as a model system to further study functions of protein factors in genomic imprinting and extraembryonic development. Overall, this dissertation has provided new and important insights into roles of protein factors in regulation of imprinted gene expression. v Table of Contents List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... x List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Genomic Imprinting ......................................................................................... 2 1.1.1. Genomic imprinting and evolution .................................................................