| First Author | Hou C | Year | 2022 |
| Journal | Int J Biol Sci | Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 7 | Pages | 3006-3018 |
| PubMed ID | 35541912 | Mgi Jnum | J:335617 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7277865 | Doi | 10.7150/ijbs.69240 |
| Citation | Hou C, et al. (2022) Stella Regulates the Development of Female Germline Stem Cells by Modulating Chromatin Structure and DNA Methylation. Int J Biol Sci 18(7):3006-3018 |
| abstractText | Female germline stem cells (FGSCs) have the ability to self-renew and differentiate into oocytes. Stella, encoded by a maternal effect gene, plays an important role in oogenesis and early embryonic development. However, its function in FGSCs remains unclear. In this study, we showed that CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of Stella promoted FGSC proliferation and reduced the level of genome-wide DNA methylation of FGSCs. Conversely, Stella overexpression led to the opposite results, and enhanced FGSC differentiation. We also performed an integrative analysis of chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq), high-throughput genome-wide chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C), and use of our published epigenetic data. Results indicated that the binding sites of STELLA and active histones H3K4me3 and H3K27ac were enriched near the TAD boundaries. Hi-C analysis showed that Stella overexpression attenuated the interaction within TADs, and interestingly enhanced the TAD boundary strength in STELLA-associated regions. Taking these findings together, our study not only reveals the role of Stella in regulating DNA methylation and chromatin structure, but also provides a better understanding of FGSC development. |
