Telomere-dependent and telomere-independent roles of RAP1 in regulating human stem cell homeostasis

Telomere-dependent and telomere-independent roles of RAP1 in regulating human stem cell homeostasis

Abstract RAP1 is a well-known telomere-binding protein, but its functions in human stem cells have remained unclear. Here we generated RAP1-deficient human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) by using CRISPR/Cas9 technique and obtained RAP1-deficient human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and neural stem cel...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xing Zhang, Zunpeng Liu, Xiaoqian Liu, Si Wang, Yiyuan Zhang, Xiaojuan He, Shuhui Sun, Shuai Ma, Ng Shyh-Chang, Feng Liu, Qiang Wang, Xiaoqun Wang, Lin Liu, Weiqi Zhang, Moshi Song, Guang-Hui Liu, Jing Qu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2019-02-01
Series:Protein & Cell
Subjects:
RAP1
stem cell
telomere
RELN
methylation
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13238-019-0610-7
Description
Summary:Abstract RAP1 is a well-known telomere-binding protein, but its functions in human stem cells have remained unclear. Here we generated RAP1-deficient human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) by using CRISPR/Cas9 technique and obtained RAP1-deficient human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and neural stem cells (hNSCs) via directed differentiation. In both hMSCs and hNSCs, RAP1 not only negatively regulated telomere length but also acted as a transcriptional regulator of RELN by tuning the methylation status of its gene promoter. RAP1 deficiency enhanced self-renewal and delayed senescence in hMSCs, but not in hNSCs, suggesting complicated lineage-specific effects of RAP1 in adult stem cells. Altogether, these results demonstrate for the first time that RAP1 plays both telomeric and nontelomeric roles in regulating human stem cell homeostasis.
ISSN:1674-800X
1674-8018

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