Retinoic acid-mediated regulation of GLI3 enables efficient motoneuron derivation from human ESCs in the absence of extrinsic SHH activation Journal Article


Authors: Calder, E. L.; Tchieu, J.; Steinbeck, J. A.; Tu, E.; Keros, S.; Ying, S. W.; Jaiswal, M. K.; Cornacchia, D.; Goldstein, P. A.; Tabar, V.; Studer, L.
Article Title: Retinoic acid-mediated regulation of GLI3 enables efficient motoneuron derivation from human ESCs in the absence of extrinsic SHH activation
Abstract: The derivation of somatic motoneurons (MNs) from ES cells (ESCs) after exposure to sonic hedgehog (SHH) and retinoic acid (RA) is one of the best defined, directed differentiation strategies to specify fate in pluripotent lineages. In mouse ESCs,MNyield is particularly high after RA + SHH treatment, whereas human ESC (hESC) protocols have been generally less efficient. In an effort to optimize yield, we observe that functional MNs can be derived from hESCs at high efficiencies if treated with patterning molecules at very early differentiation steps before neural induction. Remarkably, under these conditions, equal numbers of human MNs were obtained in the presence or absence of SHH exposure. Using pharmacological and genetic strategies, we demonstrate that early RA treatment directsMNdifferentiation independently of extrinsicSHHactivation by suppressing the induction of GLI3.We further demonstrate that neural induction triggers a switch from a poised to an active chromatin state at GLI3. Early RA treatment prevents this switch by direct binding of the RA receptor at the GLI3 promoter. Furthermore, GLI3 knock-out hESCs can bypass the requirement for early RA patterning to yield MNs efficiently. Our data demonstrate that RAmediated suppression of GLI3 is sufficient to generate MNs in an SHH-independent manner and that temporal changes in exposure to patterning factors such as RA affect chromatin state and competency of hESC-derived lineages to adopt specific neuronal fates. Finally, our work presents a streamlined platform for the highly efficient derivation of human MNs from ESCs and induced pluripotent stem cells. © 2015 the authors.
Keywords: pluripotent stem cells; retinoic acid; directed differentiation; motoneurons; gli3; shh signaling
Journal Title: The Journal of Neuroscience
Volume: 35
Issue: 33
ISSN: 0270-6474
Publisher: Society for Neuroscience  
Date Published: 2015-08-19
Start Page: 11462
End Page: 11481
Language: English
DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3046-14.2015
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC4540792
PUBMED: 26290227
DOI/URL:
Notes: Export Date: 2 September 2015 -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. Viviane S Tabar
    225 Tabar
  2. Lorenz Studer
    220 Studer
  3. Jason Hung Tchieu
    19 Tchieu
  4. Elizabeth L Calder
    9 Calder
  5. Edmund Tu
    6 Tu