An evolutionarily conserved long noncoding RNA TUNA controls pluripotency and neural lineage commitment
- Authors
- Lin, N., Chang, K.Y., Li, Z., Gates, K., Rana, Z.A., Dang, J., Zhang, D., Han, T., Yang, C.S., Cunningham, T.J., Head, S.R., Duester, G., Dong, P.D., and Rana, T.M.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-140509-3
- Date
- 2014
- Source
- Molecular Cell 53(6): 1005-1019 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Dong, P. Duc, Gates, Keith, Zhang, Danhua
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Biological Evolution
- Animals
- Conserved Sequence
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Homeodomain Proteins/genetics
- Homeodomain Proteins/metabolism
- Promoter Regions, Genetic
- Embryonic Stem Cells/cytology
- Embryonic Stem Cells/metabolism
- SOXB1 Transcription Factors/genetics
- SOXB1 Transcription Factors/metabolism
- Neurons/cytology
- Neurons/metabolism*
- RNA-Binding Proteins/genetics
- RNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism
- Severity of Illness Index
- Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
- RNA, Long Noncoding/genetics*
- RNA, Long Noncoding/metabolism
- Cell Differentiation
- Humans
- Signal Transduction
- Motor Activity
- Huntington Disease/genetics*
- Huntington Disease/metabolism
- Huntington Disease/pathology
- Zebrafish/genetics*
- Zebrafish/growth & development
- Zebrafish/metabolism
- Pluripotent Stem Cells/cytology
- Pluripotent Stem Cells/metabolism*
- Mice
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental*
- Fibroblast Growth Factor 4/genetics
- Fibroblast Growth Factor 4/metabolism
- PubMed
- 24530304 Full text @ Mol. Cell
Here, we generated a genome-scale shRNA library targeting long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) in the mouse. We performed an unbiased loss-of-function study in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) and identified 20 lincRNAs involved in the maintenance of pluripotency. Among these, TUNA (Tcl1 Upstream Neuron-Associated lincRNA, or megamind) was required for pluripotency and formed a complex with three RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). The TUNA-RBP complex was detected at the promoters of Nanog, Sox2, and Fgf4, and knockdown of TUNA or the individual RBPs inhibited neural differentiation of mESCs. TUNA showed striking evolutionary conservation of both sequence- and CNS-restricted expression in vertebrates. Accordingly, knockdown of tuna in zebrafish caused impaired locomotor function, and TUNA expression in the brains of Huntington’s disease patients was significantly associated with disease grade. Our results suggest that the lincRNA TUNA plays a vital role in pluripotency and neural differentiation of ESCs and is associated with neurological function of adult vertebrates.