Nuclear cloning, epigenetic reprogramming, and cellular differentiation.
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Biomedical subjects
K Hochedlinger
Publications and source records attributed to K Hochedlinger.
Epigenetic instability in ES cells and cloned mice.
Cloning by nuclear transfer (NT) is an inefficient process in which most clones die before birth and survivors often display growth abnormalities. In an effort to correlate gene expression with survival and fetal overgrowth, we have examined imprinted gene expression in both mice cloned by nuclear transfer and in the embryonic stem (ES) cell donor populations from which they were derived. The epigenetic state of the ES cell genome was found to be extremely unstable. Similarly, variation in imprinted gene expression was observed in most cloned mice, even in those derived from ES cells of the same subclone. Many of the animals survived to adulthood despite widespread gene dysregulation, indicating that mammalian development may be rather tolerant to epigenetic aberrations of the genome. These data imply that even apparently normal cloned animals may have subtle abnormalities in gene expression.
Animals↗
X-Chromosome inactivation in cloned mouse embryos.
To study whether cloning resets the epigenetic differences between the two X chromosomes of a somatic female nucleus, we monitored X inactivation in cloned mouse embryos. Both X chromosomes were active during cleavage of cloned embryos, followed by random X inactivation in the embryo proper. In the trophectoderm (TE), X inactivation was nonrandom with the inactivated X of the somatic donor being chosen for inactivation. When female embryonic stem cells with two active X chromosomes were used as donors, random X inactivation was seen in the TE and embryo. These results demonstrate that epigenetic marks can be removed and reestablished on either X chromosome during cloning. Our results also suggest that the epigenetic marks imposed on the X chromosomes during gametogenesis, responsible for normal imprinted X inactivation in the TE, are functionally equivalent to the marks imposed on the chromosomes during somatic X inactivation.
Alleles↗
Defective neural tube morphogenesis and altered apoptosis in the absence of both JNK1 and JNK2.
Mice lacking both c-Jun-NH(2)-terminal kinases (JNK1 and JNK2) were generated to define their roles in development. Jnk1/jnk2 double mutant fetuses die around embryonic day 11 (E11) and were found to display an open neural tube (exencephaly) at the hindbrain level with reduced apoptosis in the hindbrain neuroepithelium at E9.25. In contrast, a dramatic increase in cell death was observed one day later at E10.5 in both the hindbrain and forebrain regions. Moreover, about 25% of jnk1-/-jnk2+/- fetuses display exencephaly probably due to reduced levels of JNK proteins, whereas jnk1+/-jnk2-/- mice are viable. These results assign both pro- and anti-apoptotic functions for JNK1 and JNK2 in the development of the fetal brain.
Animals↗