Investigation of the cis-regulation of vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 in zebrafish epicardial development

<p>The human heart is known to have limited regeneration capability, and myocardial infarction leads to irreparable cardiac damage and pathological remodelling. The epicardial cell layer has been identified as a viable resident tractable source of multipotent progenitors in the heart which may...

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Autor principal: Lua, CH
Outros Autores: Riley, P
Formato: Tese
Idioma:English
Publicado em: 2019
Assuntos:
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author Lua, CH
author2 Riley, P
author_facet Riley, P
Lua, CH
author_sort Lua, CH
collection OXFORD
description <p>The human heart is known to have limited regeneration capability, and myocardial infarction leads to irreparable cardiac damage and pathological remodelling. The epicardial cell layer has been identified as a viable resident tractable source of multipotent progenitors in the heart which may be harnessed for cardiac regeneration. During development, the epicardium is known to be an important source of cardiomyogenic paracrine factors as well as supportive cardiac progenitors and thereafter becoming quiescent in adulthood. Interestingly, embryonic epicardial genes are re-expressed following cardiac injury and have been shown to be an important part of the zebrafish cardiac regeneration process. However, little is known about the upstream elements which underlie both epicardial development and regeneration processes, which may be utilized to improve current treatment regimes. In this report, my primary focus is centred on elucidating the cis-regulatory and trans-regulatory elements acting on an epicardial gene locus of interest during development. Previously generated RNA sequencing results show that the G-protein coupled receptor, Vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 (vipr2) was expressed in epicardial cells at 5 days post fertilization (5dpf). Vipr2 is also differentially expressed during cardiac regeneration at 3 days post-injury (dpi) of cryoinjured zebrafish hearts. Here, I show with in situ techniques that vipr2 is expressed in both a rare subpopulation of epicardial cells as well as in most cardiomyocytes in the myocardium. Chromatin accessibility assays and in vivo validation revealed a functional enhancer within vipr2 intronic regions, enhancer 14, which was found to be active from the 21-somite stage and exhibiting heart-specific activity from 3dpf to 5dpf during development. Enhancer 14 was further shown to be active in vipr2-expressing epicardial cells, as well as the cardiomyocytes of the primordial layer of the heart. Through combined transcription factor 3 binding motif identification, site-directed mutagenesis and transient transgenesis, two transcription factors, myeloid ecotropic viral integration site 1 homolog (MEIS1) and helicase-like transcription factor (HLTF), were found to be critical for enhancer 14 activity. In the future, vipr2 and enhancer 14 knockout zebrafish lines could be generated to elucidate gene and enhancer function during epicardial and myocardial development and regeneration.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:79e14e03-75c9-4a96-9eff-bcb4bc24907a2022-03-26T20:40:08ZInvestigation of the cis-regulation of vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 in zebrafish epicardial developmentThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccuuid:79e14e03-75c9-4a96-9eff-bcb4bc24907aEpicardial developmentCardiac Transcriptional EnhancersEnglishHyrax Deposit2019Lua, CHRiley, PDa Costa Simoes, A<p>The human heart is known to have limited regeneration capability, and myocardial infarction leads to irreparable cardiac damage and pathological remodelling. The epicardial cell layer has been identified as a viable resident tractable source of multipotent progenitors in the heart which may be harnessed for cardiac regeneration. During development, the epicardium is known to be an important source of cardiomyogenic paracrine factors as well as supportive cardiac progenitors and thereafter becoming quiescent in adulthood. Interestingly, embryonic epicardial genes are re-expressed following cardiac injury and have been shown to be an important part of the zebrafish cardiac regeneration process. However, little is known about the upstream elements which underlie both epicardial development and regeneration processes, which may be utilized to improve current treatment regimes. In this report, my primary focus is centred on elucidating the cis-regulatory and trans-regulatory elements acting on an epicardial gene locus of interest during development. Previously generated RNA sequencing results show that the G-protein coupled receptor, Vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 (vipr2) was expressed in epicardial cells at 5 days post fertilization (5dpf). Vipr2 is also differentially expressed during cardiac regeneration at 3 days post-injury (dpi) of cryoinjured zebrafish hearts. Here, I show with in situ techniques that vipr2 is expressed in both a rare subpopulation of epicardial cells as well as in most cardiomyocytes in the myocardium. Chromatin accessibility assays and in vivo validation revealed a functional enhancer within vipr2 intronic regions, enhancer 14, which was found to be active from the 21-somite stage and exhibiting heart-specific activity from 3dpf to 5dpf during development. Enhancer 14 was further shown to be active in vipr2-expressing epicardial cells, as well as the cardiomyocytes of the primordial layer of the heart. Through combined transcription factor 3 binding motif identification, site-directed mutagenesis and transient transgenesis, two transcription factors, myeloid ecotropic viral integration site 1 homolog (MEIS1) and helicase-like transcription factor (HLTF), were found to be critical for enhancer 14 activity. In the future, vipr2 and enhancer 14 knockout zebrafish lines could be generated to elucidate gene and enhancer function during epicardial and myocardial development and regeneration.</p>
spellingShingle Epicardial development
Cardiac Transcriptional Enhancers
Lua, CH
Investigation of the cis-regulation of vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 in zebrafish epicardial development
title Investigation of the cis-regulation of vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 in zebrafish epicardial development
title_full Investigation of the cis-regulation of vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 in zebrafish epicardial development
title_fullStr Investigation of the cis-regulation of vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 in zebrafish epicardial development
title_full_unstemmed Investigation of the cis-regulation of vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 in zebrafish epicardial development
title_short Investigation of the cis-regulation of vaso-intestinal peptide receptor 2 in zebrafish epicardial development
title_sort investigation of the cis regulation of vaso intestinal peptide receptor 2 in zebrafish epicardial development
topic Epicardial development
Cardiac Transcriptional Enhancers
work_keys_str_mv AT luach investigationofthecisregulationofvasointestinalpeptidereceptor2inzebrafishepicardialdevelopment