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Wang NB, Lende-Dorn BA, Adewumi HO, Beitz AM, Han P, O'Shea TM, Galloway KE. Proliferation history and transcription factor levels drive direct conversion. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.26.568736. [PMID: 38077004 PMCID: PMC10705288 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.26.568736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
The sparse and stochastic nature of reprogramming has obscured our understanding of how transcription factors drive cells to new identities. To overcome this limit, we developed a compact, portable reprogramming system that increases direct conversion of fibroblasts to motor neurons by two orders of magnitude. We show that subpopulations with different reprogramming potentials are distinguishable by proliferation history. By controlling for proliferation history and titrating each transcription factor, we find that conversion correlates with levels of the pioneer transcription factor Ngn2, whereas conversion shows a biphasic response to Lhx3. Increasing the proliferation rate of adult human fibroblasts generates morphologically mature, induced motor neurons at high rates. Using compact, optimized, polycistronic cassettes, we generate motor neurons that graft with the murine central nervous system, demonstrating the potential for in vivo therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan B Wang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Honour O Adewumi
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Adam M Beitz
- Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Patrick Han
- Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Timothy M O'Shea
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Kate E Galloway
- Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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Nair S, Ameen M, Sundaram L, Pampari A, Schreiber J, Balsubramani A, Wang YX, Burns D, Blau HM, Karakikes I, Wang KC, Kundaje A. Transcription factor stoichiometry, motif affinity and syntax regulate single-cell chromatin dynamics during fibroblast reprogramming to pluripotency. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.04.560808. [PMID: 37873116 PMCID: PMC10592962 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.04.560808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Ectopic expression of OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and MYC (OSKM) transforms differentiated cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. To refine our mechanistic understanding of reprogramming, especially during the early stages, we profiled chromatin accessibility and gene expression at single-cell resolution across a densely sampled time course of human fibroblast reprogramming. Using neural networks that map DNA sequence to ATAC-seq profiles at base-resolution, we annotated cell-state-specific predictive transcription factor (TF) motif syntax in regulatory elements, inferred affinity- and concentration-dependent dynamics of Tn5-bias corrected TF footprints, linked peaks to putative target genes, and elucidated rewiring of TF-to-gene cis-regulatory networks. Our models reveal that early in reprogramming, OSK, at supraphysiological concentrations, rapidly open transient regulatory elements by occupying non-canonical low-affinity binding sites. As OSK concentration falls, the accessibility of these transient elements decays as a function of motif affinity. We find that these OSK-dependent transient elements sequester the somatic TF AP-1. This redistribution is strongly associated with the silencing of fibroblast-specific genes within individual nuclei. Together, our integrated single-cell resource and models reveal insights into the cis-regulatory code of reprogramming at unprecedented resolution, connect TF stoichiometry and motif syntax to diversification of cell fate trajectories, and provide new perspectives on the dynamics and role of transient regulatory elements in somatic silencing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Surag Nair
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Mohamed Ameen
- Department of Cancer Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Dermatology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Program in Epithelial Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | | | - Anusri Pampari
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jacob Schreiber
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | | | - Yu Xin Wang
- Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - David Burns
- Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Helen M Blau
- Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Ioannis Karakikes
- Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Kevin C Wang
- Department of Dermatology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Program in Epithelial Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Healthcare System, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Anshul Kundaje
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
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Klumpe HE, Lugagne JB, Khalil AS, Dunlop MJ. Deep Neural Networks for Predicting Single-Cell Responses and Probability Landscapes. ACS Synth Biol 2023; 12:2367-2381. [PMID: 37467372 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
Abstract
Engineering biology relies on the accurate prediction of cell responses. However, making these predictions is challenging for a variety of reasons, including the stochasticity of biochemical reactions, variability between cells, and incomplete information about underlying biological processes. Machine learning methods, which can model diverse input-output relationships without requiring a priori mechanistic knowledge, are an ideal tool for this task. For example, such approaches can be used to predict gene expression dynamics given time-series data of past expression history. To explore this application, we computationally simulated single-cell responses, incorporating different sources of noise and alternative genetic circuit designs. We showed that deep neural networks trained on these simulated data were able to correctly infer the underlying dynamics of a cell response even in the presence of measurement noise and stochasticity in the biochemical reactions. The training set size and the amount of past data provided as inputs both affected prediction quality, with cascaded genetic circuits that introduce delays requiring more past data. We also tested prediction performance on a bistable auto-activation circuit, finding that our initial method for predicting a single trajectory was fundamentally ill-suited for multimodal dynamics. To address this, we updated the network architecture to predict the entire distribution of future states, showing it could accurately predict bimodal expression distributions. Overall, these methods can be readily applied to the diverse prediction tasks necessary to predict and control a variety of biological circuits, a key aspect of many synthetic biology applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heidi E Klumpe
- Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
- Biological Design Center, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
| | - Jean-Baptiste Lugagne
- Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
- Biological Design Center, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
| | - Ahmad S Khalil
- Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
- Biological Design Center, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Mary J Dunlop
- Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
- Biological Design Center, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
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