Biology subjects

Gil, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Gil, E..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Disruption of lamina-associated genome organization activates neuronal gene programs in H3.3K27M DIPG

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a fatal pediatric brain tumor frequently driven by a histone H3 mutation that substitutes lysine 27 with methionine (H3K27M). While H3K27M is known to cause a global depletion of the repressive histone mark H3K27me3, how this epigenetic disruption contributes to oncogenic transcriptional reprogramming remains incompletely understood. Here, we show that H3.3K27M DIPG cells exhibit widespread disruption of lamina-associated domain (LAD) organization across primary tumors and patient-derived cell lines. H3.3K27M was enriched at genomic regions that lost lamina association, which acquired increased H3K27ac and showed activation of neuronal and oncogenic gene programs. Notably, LAD loss was more strongly associated with transcriptional activation than H3K27me3 depletion, linking altered LAD organization to the transcriptional consequences of H3.3K27M. Finally, expression of H3.3K27M in human embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursor cells (NPCs) was sufficient to induce LAD remodeling, predominantly through loss of lamina association, leading to activation of neuronal gene programs. Together, these findings identify disruption of lamina-associated genome architecture as a key mechanism by which the H3.3K27M oncohistone drives oncogenic transcriptional reprogramming in DIPG.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2024

Genome Organization with CUT and Tag (GO-CaT) identifies substructure and maturation of lamina-associated domains in neurons of the developing human brain

Approximately 30-40% of the human genome is anchored to the nuclear lamina (NL) through variably sized (10 kb-10 Mb) lamina-associated domains (LADs), which can be classified into two subtypes (T1 and T2) based on their level of lamina-association. The dynamics of LAD substructure in cells that remain postmitotic for long periods of time are poorly understood. Here, we developed Genome Organization with CUT and Tag (GO-CaT) to determine the T1- and T2-LAD substructure of postmitotic excitatory neurons isolated from the prenatal and adult human cortex. While T1-LADs exhibited epigenomic features characteristic of stable, cell type-invariant LADs including strong transcriptional repression, in prenatal neurons, T2-LADs were enriched for promoter-enhancer DNA interactions, intermediate levels of gene expression, and genetic risk associated with neurodevelopmental and cognitive disorders. In adult cortical neurons, T1-LADs were expanded in size and genomic coverage, incorporating the majority of the prenatal T2-LADs, sequestering genes involved in neurodevelopment. In contrast, the minority of prenatal T2-LADs that relocated to inter-LAD regions in adult neurons were enriched for processes related to synaptic function. Overall, these data provide evidence that LADs "mature" in postmitotic neurons, remodeling from a genomic architecture that is more permissive for the dynamics of transcription of development to one that is more restricted and focused on the decades-long transcriptional needs of adult brain neurons.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2024

Spatial 3D genome organization controls the activity of bivalent chromatin during human neurogenesis

The nuclear genome is spatially organized into a three-dimensional (3D) architecture by physical association of large chromosomal domains with subnuclear compartments including the nuclear lamina at the radial periphery and nuclear speckles within the nucleoplasm1-5. However, how spatial genome architecture regulates human brain development has been overlooked owing to technical limitations. Here, we generate high-resolution maps of genomic interactions with the lamina and speckles in cells of the neurogenic lineage isolated from midgestational human cortex, uncovering an intimate association between subnuclear genome compartmentalization, chromatin state and transcription. During cortical neurogenesis, spatial genome organization is extensively remodeled, relocating hundreds of neuronal genes from the lamina to speckles including key neurodevelopmental genes bivalent for H3K27me3 and H3K4me3. At the lamina, bivalent genes have exceptionally low expression, and relocation to speckles enhances resolution of bivalent chromatin to H3K4me3 and increases transcription >7-fold. We further demonstrate that proximity to the nuclear periphery - not the presence of H3K27me3 - is the dominant factor in maintaining the lowly expressed, poised state of bivalent genes embedded in the lamina. In addition to uncovering a critical role of subnuclear genome compartmentalization in neurogenic transcriptional regulation, our results establish a new paradigm in which knowing the spatial location of a gene is necessary to understanding its epigenomic regulation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Chromatin regulator Kdm6b is required for the establishment and maintenance of neural stem cells in mouse hippocampus

Neural stem cells (NSCs) in the mouse hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) - a structure important to learning and memory - generate new neurons postnatally and throughout adult life. However, the regulators that enable this lifelong neurogenesis remain incompletely understood. Here we show that the chromatin regulator KDM6B is required for both the establishment and maintenance of NSCs in the mouse DG. Conditional deletion of Kdm6b in embryonic DG precursors results in an adult hippocampus that is essentially devoid of NSCs, and hippocampal-dependent behaviors are defective. Kdm6b-deletion causes precocious neuronal differentiation, and the NSC population fails to become established in the postnatal DG. Using single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), we observed that Kdm6b-deletion disrupts the transcriptomic signature of NSC maintenance. Furthermore, deleting Kdm6b in adult DG NSCs induces early neuronal differentiation, and the NSC population is not properly maintained. These data illustrate the critical role that Kdm6b plays in adult DG neurogenesis, which may help understand how mutations in this chromatin regulator result in cognitive disorders in human patients.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Sex-specific role for the long noncoding RNA Pnky in mouse behavior

The human brain expresses thousands of different long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and aberrant expression of specific lncRNAs has been associated with cognitive and psychiatric disorders. While a growing number of lncRNAs are now known to regulate neural cell development and function, relatively few have been shown to underlie animal behavior, particularly with genetic strategies that establish lncRNA function in trans. Pnky is an evolutionarily conserved, neural lncRNA that regulates brain development. Using mouse genetic strategies, we show that Pnky has sex-specific roles in mouse behavior and that this lncRNA underlies specific behavior by functioning in trans. Male Pnky-knockout (KO) mice have deficits in cued fear recall, a type of Pavlovian associative memory. In female Pnky-KO mice, the acoustic startle response (ASR) is increased and accompanied by a decrease in prepulse inhibition (PPI), both of which are behaviors altered in affective disorders. Remarkably, expression of Pnky from a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgene reverses the ASR phenotype of female Pnky-KO mice, demonstrating that Pnky underlies specific animal behavior by functioning in trans. More broadly, these data provide genetic evidence that a lncRNA gene and its function in trans can play a key role in the behavior of adult mammals, contributing fundamental knowledge to our growing understanding of the association between specific lncRNAs and disorders of cognition and mood.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Analysis tools to quantify dissemination of pathology in zebrafish larvae

We used the zebrafish larval Mycobacterium marinum infection model of tuberculosis to develop image analysis software called QuantiFish, to enable rapid, objective quantitation of bacterial load and dissemination. Our analysis tools provide novel outcome measures of infection; the proportional distribution of bacteria between sites and their spatial distribution throughout the host. We anticipate the broader application of these parameters to other zebrafish models of infection and metastatic cancer.

microbiology↗