Cited by 74T-cell and B-cell ImmunologyDevelopmental Biology and Gene RegulationGenomics and Chromatin Dynamics

Regulation of early T-lineage gene expression and developmental progression by the progenitor cell transcription factor PU.1

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Champhekar, Ameya, Damle, Sagar S., Freedman, George, Carotta, Sebastian, Nutt, Stephen L., Rothenberg, Ellen V.·2015·Genes & Development

Abstract

The ETS family transcription factor PU.1 is essential for the development of several blood lineages, including T cells, but its function in intrathymic T-cell precursors has been poorly defined. In the thymus, high PU.1 expression persists through multiple cell divisions in early stages but then falls sharply during T-cell lineage commitment. PU.1 silencing is critical for T-cell commitment, but it has remained unknown how PU.1 activities could contribute positively to T-cell development. Here we employed conditional knockout and modified antagonist PU.1 constructs to perturb PU.1 function stage-specifically in early T cells. We show that PU.1 is needed for full proliferation, restricting access to some non-T fates, and controlling the timing of T-cell developmental progression such that removal or antagonism of endogenous PU.1 allows precocious access to T-cell differentiation. Dominant-negative effects reveal that this repression by PU.1 is mediated indirectly. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis identifies novel targets of PU.1 positive and negative regulation affecting progenitor cell signaling and cell biology and indicating distinct regulatory effects on different subsets of progenitor cell transcription factors. Thus, in addition to supporting early T-cell proliferation, PU.1 regulates the timing of activation of the core T-lineage developmental program.

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Crossref · 10.1101/gad.259879.115

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  • PU.1 represses cell cycle genes in T cell progenitors.

    “PU.1 similarly represses cell cycle genes in T cell progenitors”

    From PU.1 is required to restrain myelopoiesis during chronic inflammatory stress (2023) · cites this paper as Champhekar et al., 2015

    The Results section on DN progression reports that PU.1-deficient DN2 cells proliferated significantly less than controls; PU.1 was needed for optimal proliferation. The genome-wide Results section also says the PU.1 repressor construct had little, if any, impact on major cell-cycle regulators. These passages do not support the claim that PU.1 represses cell-cycle genes in T-cell progenitors. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • PU.1-deficient cells underwent fewer cycles per unit time than controls in ETP and DN2a/2b stages.

    “PU.1-deficient cells underwent fewer cycles per unit time than controls both in ETP stage and in DN2a/2b stages (79)”

    From Mechanisms of Action of Hematopoietic Transcription Factor PU.1 in Initiation of T-Cell Development (2019) · cites this paper as [79]

    The Results section (‘PU.1 is required for DN progression and survival’) reports significantly less proliferation in PU.1-knockout DN2 cells than in controls after two and three days. It also describes less overall proliferation after deletion at ETP or DN2a, but does not establish fewer cell cycles specifically in ETP cells or separately in DN2b cells. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • PU.1 can upregulate progenitor-associated genes Bcl11a, Lmo2, Mef2c, and Hhex above their normal levels in DN2a and DN2b primary cells, whereas PU.1-ENG can downregulate them.

    “whereas PU.1 itself can upregulate progenitor-associated genes Bcl11a, Lmo2, Mef2c, and Hhex above their normal levels in DN2a and DN2b primary cells, PU.1-ENG can downregulate them (79).”

    From Mechanisms of Action of Hematopoietic Transcription Factor PU.1 in Initiation of T-Cell Development (2019) · cites this paper as [79]

    In Results, under “Selective roles for PU.1 in the progenitor-associated regulatory gene network” (page unavailable), the paper reports that added wild-type PU.1 up-regulated Bcl11a, Lmo2, and Mef2c, consistent with effects of PU.1-Eng. It does not name Hhex among those genes, so the claim about all four is not fully supported by our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • PU.1-ENG has some spurious effects and cannot access closed chromatin sites as well as full-length PU.1.

    “However, PU.1-ENG also has some spurious effects and cannot access closed chromatin sites as well as full-length PU.1 (79, 85).”

    From Mechanisms of Action of Hematopoietic Transcription Factor PU.1 in Initiation of T-Cell Development (2019) · cites this paper as [79]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) acknowledges caveats of forced PU.1-Eng expression and reports that some genes bound by endogenous PU.1 were unaffected by PU.1-Eng. The Results section on specificity (page unavailable) tests for side effects but finds the construct selective. Neither passage establishes that PU.1-Eng has spurious effects or that its weaker response at some sites is due to an inability to access closed chromatin relative to full-length PU.1. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Cells remaining within the T-cell pathway, continuing CD25 and negative CD11b, show relatively modest and selective changes in gene expression driven by upregulated PU.1, with minimal loss of T-cell regulatory gene expression.

    “In contrast, cells remaining within the T-cell pathway, continuing to express CD25 and remaining negative for CD11b, show relatively modest and selective changes in gene expression driven by upregulated PU.1, with minimal loss of T-cell regulatory gene expression (79, 85).”

    From Mechanisms of Action of Hematopoietic Transcription Factor PU.1 in Initiation of T-Cell Development (2019) · cites this paper as [79]

    The Results section on PU.1-Eng specificity identifies CD25 expression and absence of CD11b as markers of cells not diverted to a myeloid fate. But the Results section on negative regulation of T-cell development reports that overexpressed wild-type PU.1 down-regulated multiple T-lineage genes, including Tcf7, Gata3, Lef1, and Ikaros, with effects much greater than those of PU.1 deletion. Our copy does not establish that the CD25-positive, CD11b-negative cells specifically had modest expression changes or minimal loss of T-cell regulatory gene expression (page numbers unavailable). (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Champhekar, A., Damle, S. S., Freedman, G., Carotta, S., Nutt, S. L., & Rothenberg, E. V.
Affiliations
  • California Institute of Technology (US)
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
Corresponding author
Rothenberg, Ellen V.
Venue
Genes & Development
Published
2015-04-06
Volume
29
Issue
8
Pages
832-848
ISSN
  • 0890-9369 (ISSN-L)
  • 1549-5477
OpenAlex
W2098219736
Cited by
74
References
53
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 4
Type
posted content
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Genes & Development (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (CA90233, AI95943, HD076915)
  • Louis A. Garfinkle Memorial Laboratory Fund
  • Al Sherman Foundation
  • Albert Billings Ruddock Professorship
  • Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support
  • National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Independent Research Institute Infrastructure Support (361646, 105492, 1058238)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
Keywords
PU.1, ETS transcription factors, T cell development, T cell lineage commitment, T cell proliferation, conditional knockout, genome-wide transcriptome, transcriptional regulation
MeSH terms
Proto-Oncogene Protein Spi-1, Animals, Cell Differentiation, Cell Survival, Cells, Cultured, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, Stem Cells, T-Lymphocytes, Trans-Activators, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Receptors, Notch, Transcriptome

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