RESUMO
Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a post-transcriptional mechanism that targets aberrant transcripts and regulates the cellular RNA reservoir. Genetic modulation in vertebrates suggests that NMD is critical for cellular and tissue homeostasis, although the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here, we generate knockout mice lacking Smg6/Est1, a key nuclease in NMD and a telomerase cofactor. While the complete loss of Smg6 causes mouse lethality at the blastocyst stage, inducible deletion of Smg6 is compatible with embryonic stem cell (ESC) proliferation despite the absence of telomere maintenance and functional NMD. Differentiation of Smg6-deficient ESCs is blocked due to sustained expression of pluripotency genes, normally repressed by NMD, and forced down-regulation of one such target, c-Myc, relieves the differentiation block. Smg6-null embryonic fibroblasts are viable as well, but are refractory to cellular reprograming into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Finally, depletion of all major NMD factors compromises ESC differentiation, thus identifying NMD as a licensing factor for the switch of cell identity in the process of stem cell differentiation and somatic cell reprograming.
Assuntos
Diferenciação Celular/fisiologia , Células-Tronco Embrionárias/fisiologia , Regulação da Expressão Gênica no Desenvolvimento/fisiologia , Degradação do RNAm Mediada por Códon sem Sentido/fisiologia , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/metabolismo , Animais , Diferenciação Celular/genética , Clonagem Molecular , Biologia Computacional , Primers do DNA/genética , Regulação da Expressão Gênica no Desenvolvimento/genética , Técnicas Histológicas , Immunoblotting , Hibridização in Situ Fluorescente , Camundongos , Camundongos Knockout , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/genética , RNA Interferente Pequeno/genética , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase em Tempo Real , Análise de Sequência de RNARESUMO
Primary microcephaly 1 is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations in the MCPH1 gene, whose product MCPH1 (also known as microcephalin and BRIT1) regulates DNA-damage response. Here we show that Mcph1 disruption in mice results in primary microcephaly, mimicking human MCPH1 symptoms, owing to a premature switching of neuroprogenitors from symmetric to asymmetric division. MCPH1-deficiency abrogates the localization of Chk1 to centrosomes, causing premature Cdk1 activation and early mitotic entry, which uncouples mitosis and the centrosome cycle. This misorients the mitotic spindle alignment and shifts the division plane of neuroprogenitors, to bias neurogenic cell fate. Silencing Cdc25b, a centrosome substrate of Chk1, corrects MCPH1-deficiency-induced spindle misalignment and rescues the premature neurogenic production in Mcph1-knockout neocortex. Thus, MCPH1, through its function in the Chk1-Cdc25-Cdk1 pathway to couple the centrosome cycle with mitosis, is required for precise mitotic spindle orientation and thereby regulates the progenitor division mode to maintain brain size.