In conjunction with histone modifications, DNA methylation plays critical roles in gene silencing through chromatin remodeling. Changes in DNA methylation perturb neuronal function, and mutations in a methyl-CpG-binding protein, MeCP2, are associated with Rett syndrome. We report that increased synthesis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in neurons after depolarization correlates with a decrease in CpG methylation within the regulatory region of the Bdnf gene. Moreover, increased Bdnf transcription involves dissociation of the MeCP2-histone deacetylase-mSin3A repression complex from its promoter. Our findings suggest that DNA methylation-related chromatin remodeling is important for activity-dependent gene regulation that may be critical for neural plasticity.

During development of the CNS, neurons and glia are generated in a sequential manner. The mechanism underlying the later onset of gliogenesis is poorly understood, although the cytokineinduced Jak-STAT pathway has been postulated to regulate astrogliogenesis. Here, we report that the overall activity of Jak-STAT signaling is dynamically regulated in mouse cortical germinal zone during development. As such, activated STAT1/3 and STAT-mediated transcription are negligible at early, neurogenic stages, when neurogenic factors are highly expressed. At later, gliogenic periods, decreased expression of neurogenic factors causes robust elevation of STAT activity. Our data demonstrate a positive autoregulatory loop whereby STAT1/3 directly induces the expression of various components of the Jak-STAT pathway to strengthen STAT signaling and trigger astrogliogenesis. Forced activation of Jak-STAT signaling leads to precocious astrogliogenesis, and inhibition of this pathway blocks astrocyte differentiation. These observations suggest that autoregulation of the Jak-STAT pathway controls the onset of astrogliogenesis.During embryonic development, the generation of three major neural cell types (neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes) in the CNS occurs sequentially, whereby almost all neurons are generated before the appearance of glial cells 1,2 , with the exception of a few COMPETING INTERESTS STATEMENTThe authors declare that they have no competing financial interests. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptNat Neurosci. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 November 06. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript sites of postnatal and adult neurogenesis such as the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the hippocampus and the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the forebrain 3 . This strategy of building the CNS through sequential production of neurons and glia has become more comprehensible, as recent findings have demonstrated that glial cells are important in critical neuronal maturation processes such as axonal path finding and synapse formation [4][5][6] . It is conceivable that delayed or precocious production of glial cells may lead to inappropriate wiring, disorganization, and eventually, dysfunction of the CNS.The 'neurons-first, glia-second' differentiation theme for neural progenitors can be recapitulated in culture. Cortical neural progenitor stem cells isolated from relatively early embryonic stages (for example, mouse embryonic day (E) 10-11) give rise to neurons, not glial cells, after short-term culturing (fewer than 4 d), whereas cortical progenitors isolated from perinatal stages tend to differentiate into astrocytes under the same culture conditions 7 .In addition, both E10-11 cortical progenitors and embryonic stem cell-derived neural stem or progenitor cells (NSCs or NPCs) switch from being neurogenic to gliogenic over time in vitro 8,9 , suggesting that the molecular switch for the transition from neurogenesis to gliogenesis may be internally programmed in neural progenitors.S...

DNA methylation is a major epigenetic factor that has been postulated to regulate cell lineage differentiation. We report here that conditional gene deletion of the maintenance DNA methyltransferase I (Dnmt1) in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) results in DNA hypomethylation and precocious astroglial differentiation. The developmentally regulated demethylation of astrocyte marker genes as well as genes encoding the crucial components of the gliogenic JAK-STAT pathway is accelerated in Dnmt1–/– NPCs. Through a chromatin remodeling process, demethylation of genes in the JAK-STAT pathway leads to an enhanced activation of STATs, which in turn triggers astrocyte differentiation. Our study suggests that during the neurogenic period, DNA methylation inhibits not only astroglial marker genes but also genes that are essential for JAK-STAT signaling. Thus, demethylation of these two groups of genes and subsequent elevation of STAT activity are key mechanisms that control the timing and magnitude of astroglial differentiation.

After cell birth, almost all neurons in the mammalian central nervous system migrate. It is unclear whether and how cell migration is coupled with neurogenesis. Here we report that proneural basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors not only initiate neuronal differentiation but also potentiate cell migration. Mechanistically, proneural bHLH factors regulate the expression of genes critically involved in migration, including down-regulation of RhoA small GTPase and up-regulation of doublecortin and p35, which, in turn, modulate the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton assembly and enable newly generated neurons to migrate. In addition, we report that several DNA-binding-deficient proneural genes that fail to initiate neuronal differentiation still activate migration, whereas a different mutation of a proneural gene that causes a failure in initiating cell migration still leads to robust neuronal differentiation. Collectively, these data suggest that transcription programs for neurogenesis and migration are regulated by bHLH factors through partially distinct mechanisms.cortical migration ͉ doublecortin ͉ neuroD ͉ neurogenin ͉ RhoA

In the developing central nervous system (CNS), Notch signaling preserves progenitor pools and inhibits neurogenesis and oligodendroglial differentiation. It has recently been postulated that Notch instructively drives astrocyte differentiation. Whether the role of Notch signaling in promoting astroglial differentiation is permissive or instructive has been debated. We report here that the astrogliogenic role of Notch is in part mediated by direct binding of the Notch intracellular domain to the CSL DNA binding protein, forming a transcriptional activation complex onto the astrocyte marker gene, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). In addition, we found that, in CSL–/– neural stem cell cultures, astrocyte differentiation was delayed but continued at a normal rate once initiated, suggesting that CSL is involved in regulating the onset of astrogliogenesis. Importantly, although the classical CSL‐dependent Notch signaling pathway is intact and able to activate the Notch canonical target promoter during the neurogenic phase, it is unable to activate the GFAP promoter during neurogenesis. Therefore, the effect of Notch signaling on target genes is influenced by cellular context in regulation of neurogenesis and gliogenesis. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Faithful DNA replication is essential for the maintenance of genome integrity. Incomplete genome replication leads to DNA breaks and chromosomal rearrangements, which are causal factors in cancer and other human diseases. Despite their importance, the molecular mechanisms that control human genome stability are incompletely understood. Here, we report a pathway that is required for human genome replication and stability. This pathway has three components: an E3 ubiquitin ligase, a transcriptional repressor, and a replication protein. The E3 ubiquitin ligase RBBP6 ubiquitinates and destabilizes the transcriptional repressor ZBTB38. This repressor negatively regulates transcription and levels of the MCM10 replication factor on chromatin. Cells lacking RBBP6 experience reduced replication fork progression and increased damage at common fragile sites due to ZBTB38 accumulation and MCM10 downregulation. Our results uncover a pathway that ensures genome-wide DNA replication and chromosomal stability.

The tumor suppressor p53 regulates cell cycle progression and apoptosis in response to various types of stress, whereas excess p53 activity creates unwanted effects. Tight regulation of p53 is essential for maintaining normal cell growth. p53-associated cellular protein-testes derived (PACT, also known as P2P-R, RBBP6) is a 250-kDa Ring finger-containing protein that can directly bind to p53. PACT is highly up-regulated in esophageal cancer and may be a promising target for immunotherapy. However, the physiological role of the PACT-p53 interaction remains largely unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the disruption of PACT in mice leads to early embryonic lethality before embryonic day 7.5 (E7.5), accompanied by an accumulation of p53 and widespread apoptosis. p53-null mutation partially rescues the lethality phenotype and prolonged survival to E11.5. Endogenous PACT can interact with Hdm2 and enhance Hdm2-mediated ubiquitination and degradation of p53 as a result of the increase of the p53-Hdm2 affinity. Consequently, PACT represses p53-dependent gene transcription. Knockdown of PACT significantly attenuates the p53-Hdm2 interaction, reduces p53 polyubiquitination, and enhances p53 accumulation, leading to both apoptosis and cell growth retardation. Taken together, our data demonstrate that the PACT-p53 interaction plays a critical role in embryonic development and tumorigenesis and identify PACT as a member of negative regulators of p53.apoptosis ͉ embryonic lethality ͉ ubiquitination

Objective: miR-126, the miRNA considered to be specially expressed in endothelial cells and hematopoietic progenitor cells, is strongly associated with angiogenesis. The purpose is to evaluate the role of miR-126 in hypoxia-induced angiogenesis and the possible mechanisms. Methods: The expression of miR-126 was detected in hypoxia-treated RF/6A cells and diabetic retinas using real-time PCR. The miR-126 was up- or down-regulated by transfecting miR-126-mimics or inhibitors into RF/6A cells. Cell cycle analysis was performed using flow cytometry. The protein levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) were assessed by immunoblotting. Results: A significantly decreased expression of miR-126 was found in hypoxia-treated RF/6A cells in a time-dependent manner compared with normoxic condition. The expression of miR-126 was also reduced in the retina tissue of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. The expression of VEGF and MMP-9 proteins was increased in hypoxia-induced RF/6A cells. In the functional analysis, miR-126-mimic significantly reduced the percentage of RF/6A cells in S phases compared with the negative control under hypoxic conditions. Furthermore, the VEGF and MMP-9 protein levels were sharply decreased in hypoxia-induced RF/6A cells pretreated with miR-126-mimics and increased in the cells pretreated with miR-126-inhibitors. Conclusions: miR-126 is down-regulated under hypoxic condition both in vitro and in vivo and may halt the hypoxia-induce neovascularization by suspending the cell cycle progression and inhibiting the expression of VEGF and MMP-9.