Novel Regulators of Somatic Cell Reprogramming

Somatic cells can be reprogrammed to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells by expression of defined embryonic factors. My thesis is focused on exploring the mechanisms underlying reprogramming using a secondary mouse embryonic fibroblast model that forms iPS cells with high efficiency upon inducible expression of Oct4, Klf4, c-Myc and Sox2. My analyses of the temporal changes in gene expression reveal that reprogramming is a multi-step process characterized by initiation, maturation and stabilization phases. Using functional RNAi screening, I discovered a key role for BMP signaling and the induction of mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET) during the initiation phase. I showed that MET induction was linked to BMP-dependent induction of miR-205 and the miR-200 family of microRNAs. These studies thus defined a multi-step mechanism that incorporates a BMP-miRNA-MET axis during somatic cell reprogramming. Next I focused on the two later phases of reprogramming, maturation and stabilization. I showed the stabilization phase and acquisition of pluripotency is dependent on removal of transgene expression late in the maturation phase. Clonal analysis of reprogramming cells revealed subsets of stabilization competent (SC) versus stabilization incompetent (SI) cells. SC clones robustly entered the pluripotent state upon transgene withdrawal in the late, but not early maturation phase, whereas SI clones failed to reprogram at either stage. Transcriptome profiling by RNA-Seq revealed that SC clones acquire a competency gene expression signature late in the maturation phase. Functional RNAi screening of SC signature genes further identified regulators of transition to the stabilization phase, while screening of the same signature in iPS cells revealed a distinct subset of genes required for maintenance of pluripotency. These studies reveal that the acquisition and subsequent maintenance of pluripotency are controlled by distinct molecular networks and uncover a novel regulatory program that is required for transition to transgene independence.

Department dc:contributor.department

Molecular and Medical Genetics

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Golipour, Azadeh

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Wrana, Jeffrey

• reprogramming
• stem cell

Language dc:language.iso

en_ca

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1807/43581

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/43581