A 3.5 jours de développement (J3.5), l'embryon de souris est constitué d'un épithélium externe, le trophectoderme, et d'une masse cellulaire interne (MCI). La MCI est hétérogène, constituée des précurseurs de l'épiblaste (Epi) et de l'endoderme primitif (EPr), représentée par l'expression exclusive de Nanog et de Gata6 respectivement. Lors de l'implantation à E4.5, l'EPr forme un épithélium à la surface de la MCI, en regard de la cavité blastocoelique. L'Epi donnera tous les tissus du nouveau-né. L'EPr permet les premiers échanges nutritionnels entre l'embryon et la mère. Je m'intéresse au rôle de Nanog et de Gata6 dans la détermination et la différenciation de l'Epi et de l'EPr. De plus, je m'intéresse à l'implication de la signalisation RTK dans l'expression de ces deux gènes. Enfin, je cherche à comprendre les interrelations entre Gata6 et Nanog. A l'aide des modèles de souris KO, des modèles in vitro ainsi que des techniques innovantes développées au sein du laboratoire, nous avons mis en évidence que la modulation de l'expression de Nanog, Gata6, Fgf4 et Fgfr2 semble suffisante pour l'engagement des cellules vers un devenir Epi ou EPr. De plus, ces résultats permettent de proposer un nouveau modèle expliquant le rôle de Gata6 et de Nanog dans la spécification des cellules Epi et EPr. / At 3.5 days of development (E3.5), the mouse embryo consists of an outer epithelium, the trophectoderm, and an inner cell mass (ICM). The ICM is heterogeneous, composed of the precursors of the epiblast (Epi) and the primitive endoderm (PrE), expressing either Nanog or Gata6 respectively. Upon implantation at E4.5 the EPr forms an epithelium on the surface of the ICM, facing the blastocoelic cavity. The Epi give rise all tissues of the newborn. The PrE allows the first nutritional exchanges between the embryo and the mother. I focus on the role of Nanog and Gata6 in the determination and differentiation of Epi and PrE. In addition I am interested in the involvement of RTK signaling in the expression of both genes. Finally, I seek to understand the relationships between Gata6 and Nanog. Using the transgenic mouse models, in vitro models as well as innovative techniques developed in the laboratory, we have demonstrated that modulating the expression of Nanog, Gata6, FGF4 and FGFR2 seems sufficient for commitment of cells to become an Epi or EPr. Furthermore, these results allow proposing a new model explaining the role of Gata6 and Nanog in the determination and differentiation of Epi and PrE cells.

While there has been an opulence of data and studies surrounding the study of the developing pancreas in mammals and other vertebrates, the focus has largely been in mice. The paucity of research in the development of the human pancreas has led to diminished knowledge in the area, compared to other species. Recent discoveries provide growing evidence for discrepancies between mouse and human pancreatic development and diseases and highlight the fact that developmental studies of the pancreas in humans are imperative. The need to develop therapies for diabetes, a growing and one of the leading health problems worldwide, further compels more exploration in this area to deepen our understanding in the different aspects of diabetes in humans and its underlying causes. Research involving modelling human diseases in vitro enables the investigation of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these diseases as well as the development of therapies for treating them. The availability of hPSCs brings with it the advantage of overcoming the limitations of animal models for certain disorders such as pancreatic agenesis, the focus of my project. The use of site-specific nucleases such as TALENs for such a purpose represents a paradigm shift in disease modelling, where TALENs are capable of directly correcting disease-causing mutations, therefore permanently eliminating the symptoms with precise genome modifications. Alternatively, TALENs can also be used to inactivate specific genes by inducing site-specific mutations. Using these tools, I found that GATA6 is required for the formation of the definitive endoderm (DE) and pancreas in humans; hPSCs harbouring homozygous GATA6 mutations fail to form the definitive endoderm, and consequently the pancreas, whereas hPSCs harbouring heterozygous GATA6 mutations exhibited impairment in definitive endoderm development, although it remains unclear if this is a protocol dependent defect. At the pancreatic stage, heterozygous GATA6 mutations consistently compromised pancreas formation regardless of protocol used. I also found that GATA6 transcriptionally activates the development of the definitive endoderm and pancreatic endoderm, and possibly represses the development of mesoderm. Furthermore, I also established that GATA6 directly interacts with key definitive endoderm markers CXCR4 and SOX17, and pancreatic marker PDX1. Taken together, the work herein demonstrates the successful use of hPSCs coupled with the TALEN genome editing technology as a unique in vitro system for disease modelling. These findings also establish two developmental windows, the DE and pancreatic progenitor stages, where GATA6 haploinsufficiency can result in the impairment of pancreatic development leading to pancreatic hypoplasia observed in human GATA6 heterozygous patients. Lastly, my work also provides the molecular mechanism by which GATA6 regulates pancreatic development. Overall, this study provided new insights in the role of GATA6 during development of the human pancreas. These results will be important in developing new methods of differentiation for hPSCs and understanding the interconnection between early organogenesis and late onset of diabetes.

Efficient muscle regeneration is essential in mammals in order to overcome daily stress such as wounds, exercise and pathologic processes. This regeneration relies on muscle stem cells, the satellite cells. After a lesion, satellite cells are activated, proliferate and differentiate in fonctionnal muscle fibers. Our laboratory has previously shown that the transcription factor GATA-6 is expressed in the satellite cells. The present thesis confirms the expression of this factor in this cell type. Also, it seems that GATA-6 could be implicated in the maintaining of quiescence of these cells. The GATA-6 heterozygous mouse muscle is characterized by an increase level of Myf5 and Pax7+ cells. Moreover, suppression of one copy of the GATA-6 gene in a muscular dystrophy model mouse, the mdx mice, alleviates its phenotype. Further experiments on a muscle-specific GATA-6 null mouse will allow a better understanding of the role of GATA-6 in muscle regeneration. / Keywords. GATA-6, muscle regeneration, mdx, satellite cells

abstract: A genetically engineered line of human induced pluripotent stem cells was used to study the effects of gene expression on cell fate. These cells were designed to activate expression of the gene GATA6 when exposed to the small molecule doxycycline. This gene was chosen because it plays an important role in the developmental biology stages of liver formation. Because of the way the cells were engineered, a given population would have a heterogeneous expression of GATA6 because each cell could have a different copy number of the exogenous gene. This variation allows for the differentiation of multiple cell types, and is used to grow liver organoids. The early liver organoid samples were studied via immunofluorescent staining, imaging, and quantitative image analysis. It was originally hypothesized that absolute gene expression was not the most important factor in determining cell fate, but relative gene expression was. This meant that the spatial location of the cells and their local environment were critical in determining cell fate. In other words, the level of GATA6 of a cell is important, but so is the level of GATA6 in the surrounding cells, or neighborhood, of that cell. This hypothesis was analyzed with the creation of various Neighborhood Impact Factor (NIF) methods. Multiple time points of growth were analyzed to study the temporal effect, in addition to the gene expression and NIF influence on a cell’s fate. Direct gene expression level showed correlation with certain cell fate markers. In addition to GATA6 expression levels, NIF results from early and late time point experiments show statistical significance with relatively small neighborhood radii. The NIF analysis was useful for examining the effect of neighboring cells and determining the size of the neighborhood – how far cells influence one another. While these systems are complex, the NIF analysis provides a way to look at gene expression and its influence in spatial context. / Dissertation/Thesis / Powerpoint presentation used in the defense. / Masters Thesis Bioengineering 2017

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Au cours de la préimplantation, l'embryon de souris produit deux lignages cellulaires, le trophectoderme (TE), et la masse cellulaire interne (MCI) qui elle-même se différencie en épiblaste (Epi) et en endoderme primitif (EPr), caractérisés respectivement par l'expression exclusive de Nanog et de Gata6. La voie FGF/MAPK joue un rôle critique dans l’acquisition de l’identité EPr. J’ai examiné l’expression de pERK, DUSP4 et ETV5 qui permettent de visualiser l'activité des MAPK. Ces analyses ont été effectuées en activant ou inhibant la voie FGF/MAPK, ainsi que dans des embryons mutants pour Nanog et/ou Gata6. Ceci a permis d’observer l’activation de la voie FGF/MAPK dès E3,25. Un autre volet de mon travail a été d'analyser la voie de l’IGF dans les embryons préimplantatoires afin de comprendre l’influence de cette voie dans les différents lignages. J’ai montré que le récepteur activé pIGF1R est exprimé de manière différentielle dans le TE, l’EPr et l’Epi au cours du développement. Une supplémentation d’IGF1 induit une augmentation du nombre de cellules en deux phases, d'abord de l’Epi puis de l’EPr. A l’inverse, une perte de fonction d’IGF1R induit une diminution du nombre de cellules entre E3,75 et E4,25. / During preimplantation, mouse embryo produces two cellular lineages, the trophectoderm (TE), and the inner cell mass (ICM), which differentiates in epiblast (Epi) and primitive endoderm (PrE), characterized respectively by the complementary expression of Nanog and Gata6. FGF/MAPK pathway plays a critical role in the acquisition of a PrE identity. I examined the expression of the markers of MAPK activity pERK, DUSP4 and ETV5. The analyze was performed with activation or inhibition of FGF/MAPK pathway and in mutant embryos for Nanog or Gata6. This showed that FGF/MAPK pathway is activated as soon as E3,25. I have also analyzed the IGF pathway in preimplantation embryos in order to understand the role of this pathway in embryonic lineages. I showed that active receptor pIGF1R is differentially expressed in TE, PrE and Epi during embryonic development. Supplementation with IGF1 induces an increase in cell number in two phases, first in Epi then in PrE. Conversely, loss of function of IGF1R induces a decrease in cell number between E3,75 and E4,25.

Le gène unr (upstream of N-ras) code une protéine de liaison à l’ARN, Unr, qui régule la stabilité et la traduction d’ARN messagers cibles. L’invalidation du gène unr chez la souris conduit à une létalité embryonnaire à mi-gestation (10,5 jours post-coitum, jpc). Unr est donc essentielle pour le développement de la souris. Le phénotype le plus frappant des embryons unr-/- est leur petite taille qui est déjà visible à 8,5jpc. Ce phénotype pourrait refléter un problème précoce de prolifération/différenciation au cours du développement qu’il est possible d’étudier dans les cellules souches embryonnaires (ES). Les cellules ES sont dérivées des cellules pluripotentes des embryons au stade blastocyste (3,5jpc). Les cellules ES peuvent s’auto-renouveler c’est à dire proliférer indéfiniment sous forme non différenciée ce qui correspond à leur état pluripotent ou différencier en tous les types cellulaires (lignages) adultes dérivés des feuillets primordiaux (endoderme définitif, mésoderme et ectoderme) ce que défini la pluripotence. Ces deux propriétés des cellules ES conditionnent leur devenir et définissent leur identité. Nous avons remarqué que les cellules ES unr-/- ont tendance à différencier spontanément alors qu’elles sont cultivées dans des conditions qui les maintiennent dans un état non différencié et prolifératif (état pluripotent). En routine, les cultures de cellules ES unr-/- contiennent environ 25% de cellules morphologiquement différenciées. Nos travaux montrent en effet, qu’elles différencient en endoderme primitif. Nous avons reproduit ce phénotype dans une autre lignée des cellules ES de fond génétique différent par déplétion stable d’Unr. La restauration de l’expression d’Unr dans les cellules ES unr-/- limite fortement leur engagement en différenciation. Unr contribue donc au maintient de l’état pluripotent des cellules ES en prévenant leur différenciation spontanée vers le lignage endodermique primitif (Epr). Ce tissu au cours du développement va former l’épithélium de la poche embryonnaire ou sac vitellin. Nos données préliminaires montrent que les cellules ES en absence d’Unr maintiennent tout de même leur capacité de différenciation multi-lignages (endoderme définitif, mésoderme et ectoderme) quand celle-ci est induite. Ensuite, nous nous sommes intéressés au(x) mécanisme(s) d’action d’Unr. Nous avons fait l’hypothèse qu’Unr pourrait directement agir en régulant positivement des gènes qui inhibent la différenciation des cellules ES en Epr ou en régulant négativement des gènes qui l’induisent. Nous avons identifié le gène gata6 comme cible potentielle d’Unr. Une augmentation modérée de l’expression du facteur de transcription Gata6 dans les cellules ES conduit à une autorégulation positive du gène gata6 et induit la différenciation des cellules ES en Epr. Nos données suggèrent qu’Unr pourrait directement déstabiliser les ARNms Gata6 dans les cellules ES afin de prévenir leur différenciation spontanée en Endoderme primitif. / Unr (upstream of N-ras) is a cytoplasmic RNA-binding protein with cold shock domains, involved in regulation of messenger RNA stability and translation. Unr is essential to mouse development since Embryos deficient for Unr die at mid-gestation. Here we report that unr knockout ES cells maintained under growth conditions that sustain self-renewal spontaneously differentiate toward the primitive endoderm (PrE) lineage. This phenotype was reproduced in another ES line (E14tg2a) after shRNA-induced Unr depletion. Moreover, Unr rescue in Unr-deficient ES cells limits their PrE differentiation engagement. However, Unr is dispensable for multilineage differentiation, as shown by knockout ES cells capacity to produce differentiated teratomas. We further investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying the differentiation of unr-/- ES to primitive endoderm, and found that Unr acts downstream of Nanog. Our data also show Gata6 mRNAs are more stable in Unr-deficient ES cells as compared to wild-type ES cells. We propose that the possible repression by Unr of this key inducer of PrE differentiation at a post-transcriptional level may contributes to the stabilization of ES cells pluripotent state.

Cardiovascular disease, which involves the cardiac, cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular system, is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in the western world. Changes in the vascular microenvironment trigger cascades of molecular events involving altered signaling, transcription and translation of a gene. The aim of this thesis was to increase our understanding on the molecular regulation of activated vascular smooth muscle cells. The first study looking at PDGF-D expression provides new insights into the regulatory mechanisms controlling the phosphorylation of Sp1. Studies performed identified three amino acids in Sp1 (Thr668, Ser670 and Thr681) that is phosphorylated by PKC-zeta activated by AngII. In the second study, the translational regulatory role of a novel gene YrdC induced by injury was investigated. Current knowledge of translational regulators controlling altered gene expression is little and studies in this thesis shows a splice variant of YrdC playing an important role in controlling mRNA translation and thus protein synthesis in the context of injury. The final study investigated in this study was the increased expression of the apoptotic FasL by the activation of GATA6. Although FasL has been extensively studied over the years, this is the first study linking a GATA factor with FasL in any cell type and provides key insights into the transcriptional events underpinning FasL-dependent SMC apoptosis following exposure to AngII.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Molecular Biology) -- University of Colorado Denver, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-175). Free to UCD affiliates. Online version available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations;

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