Epigenetic regulation of early human embryo development

Studies of mammalian development have advanced our understanding of the genetic, epigenetic, and cellular processes that orchestrate embryogenesis and have uncovered new insights into the unique aspects of human embryogenesis. Recent studies have now produced the first epigenetic maps of early human embryogenesis, stimulating new ideas about epigenetic reprogramming, cell fate control, and the potential mechanisms underpinning developmental plasticity in human embryos. In this review, we discuss these new insights into the epigenetic regulation of early human development and the importance of these processes for safeguarding development. We also highlight unanswered questions and key challenges that remain to be addressed.

Chemical conversion of human conventional PSCs to TSCs following transient naive gene activation

In human embryos, naive pluripotent cells of the inner cell mass (ICM) generate epiblast, primitive endoderm and trophectoderm (TE) lineages, whence trophoblast cells derive. In vitro, naive pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) retain this potential and efficiently generate trophoblast stem cells (TSCs), while conventional PSCs form TSCs at low efficiency. Transient histone deacetylase and MEK inhibition combined with LIF stimulation is used to chemically reset conventional to naive PSCs. Here, we report that chemical resetting induces the expression of both naive and TSC markers and of placental imprinted genes. A modified chemical resetting protocol allows for the fast and efficient conversion of conventional PSCs into TSCs, entailing shutdown of pluripotency genes and full activation of the trophoblast master regulators, without induction of amnion markers. Chemical resetting generates a plastic intermediate state, characterised by co-expression of naive and TSC markers, after which cells steer towards one of the two fates in response to the signalling environment. The efficiency and rapidity of our system will be useful to study cell fate transitions and to generate models of placental disorders.

3D ECM-rich environment sustains the identity of naive human iPSCs

The establishment of in vitro naive human pluripotent stem cell cultures opened new perspectives for the study of early events in human development. The role of several transcription factors and signaling pathways have been characterized during maintenance of human naive pluripotency. However, little is known about the role exerted by the extracellular matrix (ECM) and its three-dimensional (3D) organization. Here, using an unbiased and integrated approach combining microfluidic cultures with transcriptional, proteomic, and secretome analyses, we found that naive, but not primed, hiPSC colonies are characterized by a self-organized ECM-rich microenvironment. Based on this, we developed a 3D culture system that supports robust long-term feeder-free self-renewal of naive hiPSCs and also allows direct and timely developmental morphogenesis simply by modulating the signaling environment. Our study opens new perspectives for future applications of naive hiPSCs to study critical stages of human development in 3D starting from a single cell.

Vertex results for the robust analysis of uncertain biochemical systems

We consider the problem of assessing the sensitivity of uncertain biochemical systems in the presence of input perturbations (either constant or periodic) around a stable steady state. In particular, we propose approaches for the robust sensitivity analysis of systems with uncertain parameters assumed to take values in a hyper-rectangle. We highlight vertex results, which allow us to check whether a property is satisfied for all parameter choices in the hyper-rectangle by simply checking whether it is satisfied for all parameter choices at the vertices of the hyper-rectangle. We show that, for a vast class of systems, including (bio)chemical reaction networks with mass-action kinetics, the system Jacobian has a totally multiaffine structure (namely, all minors of the Jacobian matrix are multiaffine functions of the uncertain parameters), which can be exploited to obtain several vertex results. We consider different problems: robust non-singularity; robust stability of the steady-state; robust steady-state sensitivity analysis, in the case of constant perturbations; robust frequency-response sensitivity analysis, in the presence of periodic perturbations; and robust adaptation analysis. The developed theory is then applied to gain insight into some examples of uncertain biochemical systems, including the incoherent feed-forward loop, the coherent feed-forward loop, the Brusselator oscillator and the Goldbeter oscillator.

Using Microfluidics to Generate Human Naïve and Primed Pluripotent Stem Cells

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are generated from somatic cells by the expression of a cocktail of transcription factors, and iPSCs have the capacity to generate in vitro all cell types of the human body. In addition to primed (conventional) iPSCs, several groups recently reported the generation of human naïve iPSCs, which are in a more primitive developmental state and have a broader developmental potential, as shown by their ability to form cells of the placenta. Human iPSCs have broad medical potential but their generation is often time-consuming, not scalable and requires viral vectors or stable genetic manipulations. To overcome such limitations, we developed protocols for high-efficiency generation of either conventional or naïve iPSCs by delivery of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) using a microfluidic system. In this protocol we describe how to produce microfluidic devices, and how to reprogram human somatic cells into naïve and primed iPSCs using these devices. We also describe how to transfer the iPSC colonies from the microfluidic devices over to standard multiwell plates for subsequent expansion of the cultures. Our approach does not require stable genetic modifications, is reproducible and cost-effective, allowing to produce patient-specific iPSCs for cell therapy, disease modeling, and in vitro developmental studies.

Mathematical modelling of SigE regulatory network reveals new insights into bistability of mycobacterial stress response

Background

The ability to rapidly adapt to adverse environmental conditions represents the key of success of many pathogens and, in particular, of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Upon exposition to heat shock, antibiotics or other sources of stress, appropriate responses in terms of genes transcription and proteins activity are activated leading part of a genetically identical bacterial population to express a different phenotype, namely to develop persistence. When the stress response network is mathematically described by an ordinary differential equations model, development of persistence in the bacterial population is associated with bistability of the model, since different emerging phenotypes are represented by different stable steady states.

Results

In this work, we develop a mathematical model of SigE stress response network that incorporates interactions not considered in mathematical models currently available in the literature. We provide, through involved analytical computations, accurate approximations of the system’s nullclines, and exploit the obtained expressions to determine, in a reliable though computationally efficient way, the number of equilibrium points of the system.

Conclusions

Theoretical analysis and perturbation experiments point out the crucial role played by the degradation pathway involving RseA, the anti-sigma factor of SigE, for coexistence of two stable equilibria and the emergence of bistability. Our results also indicate that a fine control on RseA concentration is a necessary requirement in order for the system to exhibit bistability.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12859-021-04372-5.

The transcriptional regulator ZNF398 mediates pluripotency and epithelial character downstream of TGF-beta in human PSCs

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have the capacity to give rise to all differentiated cells of the adult. TGF-beta is used routinely for expansion of conventional hPSCs as flat epithelial colonies expressing the transcription factors POU5F1/OCT4, NANOG, SOX2. Here we report a global analysis of the transcriptional programme controlled by TGF-beta followed by an unbiased gain-of-function screening in multiple hPSC lines to identify factors mediating TGF-beta activity. We identify a quartet of transcriptional regulators promoting hPSC self-renewal including ZNF398, a human-specific mediator of pluripotency and epithelial character in hPSCs. Mechanistically, ZNF398 binds active promoters and enhancers together with SMAD3 and the histone acetyltransferase EP300, enabling transcription of TGF-beta targets. In the context of somatic cell reprogramming, inhibition of ZNF398 abolishes activation of pluripotency and epithelial genes and colony formation. Our findings have clear implications for the generation of bona fide hPSCs for regenerative medicine.