| 1. |
- Zhu, Zhenshuo, et al.
(author)
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Histone demethylase complexes KDM3A and KDM3B cooperate with OCT4/SOX2 to define a pluripotency gene regulatory network
- 2021
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In: The FASEB Journal. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0892-6638 .- 1530-6860. ; 35:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The pluripotency gene regulatory network of porcine induced pluripotent stem cells(piPSCs), especially in epigenetics, remains elusive. To determine the biological function of epigenetics, we cultured piPSCs in different culture conditions. We found that activation of pluripotent gene- and pluripotency-related pathways requires the erasure of H3K9 methylation modification which was further influenced by mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) served feeder. By dissecting the dynamic change of H3K9 methylation during loss of pluripotency, we demonstrated that the H3K9 demethylases KDM3A and KDM3B regulated global H3K9me2/me3 level and that their co-depletion led to the collapse of the pluripotency gene regulatory network. Immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry (IP-MS) provided evidence that KDM3A and KDM3B formed a complex to perform H3K9 demethylation. The genome-wide regulation analysis revealed that OCT4 (O) and SOX2 (S), the core pluripotency transcriptional activators, maintained the pluripotent state of piPSCs depending on the H3K9 hypomethylation. Further investigation revealed that O/S cooperating with histone demethylase complex containing KDM3A and KDM3B promoted pluripotency genes expression to maintain the pluripotent state of piPSCs. Together, these data offer a unique insight into the epigenetic pluripotency network of piPSCs.
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| 2. |
- Zhang, Juqing, et al.
(author)
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Super-enhancers conserved within placental mammals maintain stem cell pluripotency
- 2022
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 119:40
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite pluripotent stem cells sharing key transcription factors, their maintenance involves distinct genetic inputs. Emerging evidence suggests that super-enhancers (SEs) can function as master regulatory hubs to control cell identity and pluripotency in humans and mice. However, whether pluripotency-associated SEs share an evolutionary origin in mammals remains elusive. Here, we performed comprehensive comparative epigenomic and transcription factor binding analyses among pigs, humans, and mice to identify pluripotency-associated SEs. Like typical enhancers, SEs displayed rapid evolu-tion in mammals. We showed that BRD4 is an essential and conserved activator for mammalian pluripotency-associated SEs. Comparative motif enrichment analysis revealed 30 shared transcription factor binding motifs among the three species. The majority of transcriptional factors that bind to identified motifs are known regulators associated with pluripotency. Further, we discovered three pluripotency-associated SEs (SE-SOX2, SE-PIM1, and SE-FGFR1) that displayed remarkable conservation in pla-cental mammals and were sufficient to drive reporter gene expression in a pluripotency-dependent manner. Disruption of these conserved SEs through the CRISPR-Cas9 approach severely impaired stem cell pluripotency. Our study provides insights into the understanding of conserved regulatory mechanisms underlying the maintenance of plu-ripotency as well as species-specific modulation of the pluripotency-associated regula-tory networks in mammals.
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| 3. |
- Cao, Lina, et al.
(author)
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Atomically dispersed iron hydroxide anchored on Pt for preferential oxidation of CO in H-2
- 2019
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In: Nature. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 565:7741, s. 631-635
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are attractive next-generation power sources for use in vehicles and other applications(1), with development efforts focusing on improving the catalyst system of the fuel cell. One problem is catalyst poisoning by impurity gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), which typically comprises about one per cent of hydrogen fuel(2-4). A possible solution is on-board hydrogen purification, which involves preferential oxidation of CO in hydrogen (PROX)(3-7). However, this approach is challenging(8-15) because the catalyst needs to be active and selective towards CO oxidation over a broad range of low temperatures so that CO is efficiently removed (to below 50 parts per million) during continuous PEMFC operation (at about 353 kelvin) and, in the case of automotive fuel cells, during frequent cold-start periods. Here we show that atomically dispersed iron hydroxide, selectively deposited on silica-supported platinum (Pt) nanoparticles, enables complete and 100 per cent selective CO removal through the PROX reaction over the broad temperature range of 198 to 380 kelvin. We find that the mass-specific activity of this system is about 30 times higher than that of more conventional catalysts consisting of Pt on iron oxide supports. In situ X-ray absorption fine-structure measurements reveal that most of the iron hydroxide exists as Fe-1(OH)(x) clusters anchored on the Pt nanoparticles, with density functional theory calculations indicating that Fe-1(OH)(x)-Pt single interfacial sites can readily react with CO and facilitate oxygen activation. These findings suggest that in addition to strategies that target oxide-supported precious-metal nanoparticles or isolated metal atoms, the deposition of isolated transition-metal complexes offers new ways of designing highly active metal catalysts.
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| 4. |
- Fang, Du, et al.
(author)
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Increased neuronal PreP activity reduces A beta accumulation, attenuates neuroinflammation and improves mitochondrial and synaptic function in Alzheimer disease's mouse model
- 2015
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In: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 24:18, s. 5198-5210
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Accumulation of amyloid-beta (A beta) in synaptic mitochondria is associated with mitochondrial and synaptic injury. The underlying mechanisms and strategies to eliminate A beta and rescue mitochondrial and synaptic defects remain elusive. Presequence protease (PreP), a mitochondrial peptidasome, is a novel mitochondrial A beta degrading enzyme. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that increased expression of active human PreP in cortical neurons attenuates Alzheimer disease's (AD)-like mitochondrial amyloid pathology and synaptic mitochondrial dysfunction, and suppresses mitochondrial oxidative stress. Notably, PreP-overexpressed AD mice show significant reduction in the production of proinflammatory mediators. Accordingly, increased neuronal PreP expression improves learning and memory and synaptic function in vivo AD mice, and alleviates A beta-mediated reduction of long-term potentiation (LTP). Our results provide in vivo evidence that PreP may play an important role in maintaining mitochondrial integrity and function by clearance and degradation of mitochondrial A beta along with the improvement in synaptic and behavioral function in AD mouse model. Thus, enhancing PreP activity/expression may be a new therapeutic avenue for treatment of AD.
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