Nadia Omega Cipta

Impaired neural stem cell (NSC) proliferation/activation is associated with brain aging, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we unexpectedly find that DMTF1, a transcription factor that regulates the Arf/p53 axis in cancer, is down-regulated in the NSCs of a premature aging model driven by telomerase deficiency. DMTF1 up-regulation was able to rescue the impaired proliferation of telomere dysfunctional NSCs. Mechanistically, DMTF1 regulates the transcription of Arid2 and Ss18 genes, two subunits of the SWI/SNF complexes that mediate H3K27ac at E2F gene promoters to promote NSC proliferation. Accordingly, Arid2 or Ss18 depletion phenocopies DMTF1 loss in reducing H3K27ac levels, expression of E2F target genes, and NSC proliferation. Thus, our study has identified DMTF1 as a potential therapeutic target to reverse the proliferation defect of aged NSC that is modeled by telomere attrition and unearthed a distinct genetic program controlled by DMTF1 in NSC.

Embryonic stem cells possess the remarkable ability to self-organize into blastocyst-like structures upon induction. These stem cell-based embryo models serve as invaluable platforms for studying embryogenesis and therapeutic developments. Nevertheless, the specific intrinsic regulators that govern this potential for blastoid formation remain unknown. Here we demonstrate an intrinsic program that plays a crucial role in both blastoids and blastocysts across multiple species. We first establish metrics for grading the resemblance of blastoids to mouse blastocysts, and identify the differential activation of gene regulons involved in lineage specification among various blastoid grades. Notably, abrogation of nuclear receptor subfamily 1, group H, member 2 (Nr1h2) drastically reduces blastoid formation. Nr1h2 activation alone is sufficient to rewire conventional ESC into a distinct pluripotency state, enabling them to form blastoids with enhanced implantation capacity in the uterus and contribute to both embryonic and extraembryonic lineages in vivo. Through integrative multi-omics analyses, we uncover the broad regulatory role of Nr1h2 in the transcriptome, chromatin accessibility and epigenome, targeting genes associated with embryonic lineage and the transposable element SINE-B1. The Nr1h2-centred intrinsic program governs and drives the development of both blastoids and early embryos.