School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Published: June 2023
AI Article Synopsis
Article Abstract
Pluripotency defines the unlimited potential of individual cells of vertebrate embryos, from which all adult somatic cells and germ cells are derived. Understanding how the programming of pluripotency evolved has been obscured in part by a lack of data from lower vertebrates; in model systems such as frogs and zebrafish, the function of the pluripotency genes NANOG and POU5F1 have diverged. Here, we investigated how the axolotl ortholog of NANOG programs pluripotency during development. Axolotl NANOG is absolutely required for gastrulation and germ-layer commitment. We show that in axolotl primitive ectoderm (animal caps; ACs) NANOG and NODAL activity, as well as the epigenetic modifying enzyme DPY30, are required for the mass deposition of H3K4me3 in pluripotent chromatin. We also demonstrate that all 3 protein activities are required for ACs to establish the competency to differentiate toward mesoderm. Our results suggest the ancient function of NANOG may be establishing the competence for lineage differentiation in early cells. These observations provide insights into embryonic development in the tetrapod ancestor from which terrestrial vertebrates evolved.
Department of Cellular and Molecular Nutrition, Faculty of Nutrition Science and Food Technology, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background: Acquisition of stem-like properties requires overcoming the epigenetic barrier of differentiation and re-expression of several genes involved in stemness and the cell cycle. DNA methylation is the classic epigenetic mechanism for de/differentiation. The writers and erasers of DNA methylation are not site-specific enzymes for altering specific gene methylation.
Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are the main cause of breast cancer recurrence and metastasis. While the ubiquitin-proteasome system contributes to the regulation of BCSC stemness, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we identified ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2T (UBE2T) as a pivotal ubiquitin enzyme regulating BCSC stemness through systemic screening assays, including single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and stemness-index analysis.
To investigate the association of NANOG polymorphisms with oral leukoplakia. In this case-control study, 68 cases of oral leukoplakia, and 21 of normal oral mucosa (control) were submitted to genotyping of tagSNPs polymorphisms: rs877716 and rs10845877 in NANOG, through real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Pearson's chi-squared and Fisher's exact statistical tests were used, with a significance of 5%.
These protocols describe a detailed method to determine the DNA damage and F-actin and microtubule defects of metaphase II oocytes caused by hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC). The protocol provides systematic steps to determine protein expression encoded by pluripotency proteins such as Oct4, Nanog, and Cdx2 during early embryonic development. Occupational or environmental exposure to EDCs has significantly increased infertility in both men and women.
