LONG NON-CODING RNA VENTHEART IS NECESSARY FOR VENTRICULAR CARDIOMYOCYTE SPECIFICATION AND FUNCTION
Cardiac development is tightly regulated by various modulators including long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which influence gene expression and cardiac cell fate. This thesis focuses on verifying and characterizing of one key lncRNA, VENTHEART (VHRT), which was identified as one of the top upregulated markers in cardiomyocyte (CM) development. Utilizing human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CM) as an in vitro model for cardiac differentiation and development, VHRT was found to be highly co-regulated with crucial cardiac and ventricular-specific genes. CRISPR deletion of VHRT locus revealed that VHRT was essential for maintaining the cardiac gene expression profile, sarcomeric organization, and electrophysiology in ventricular hPSC-CMs. However, atrial-directed differentiation from cells with VHRT deletion showed no functional disruption, indicating the subtype-specific role of VHRT.
stem cell derived cardiomyocytes, cardiac development, long non-coding RNA
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations