Pcgf5: An important regulatory factor in early embryonic neural induction
Xuan Yang,
Wenjuan Zhou,
Juan Zhou,
Anna Li,
Changqing Zhang,
Zhenya Fang,
Chunying Wang,
Shiyu Liu,
Aijun Hao,
Meihua Zhang
Affiliations
Xuan Yang
Key Laboratory of Birth Regulation and Control Technology of National Health Commission of China Shandong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University, Jinan, 250014, China
Wenjuan Zhou
Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of Ministry of Education, Shandong Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Department of Anatomy and Histoembryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Juan Zhou
Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of Ministry of Education, Shandong Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Department of Anatomy and Histoembryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China
Anna Li
Key Laboratory of Birth Regulation and Control Technology of National Health Commission of China Shandong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University, Jinan, 250014, China
Changqing Zhang
Key Laboratory of Birth Regulation and Control Technology of National Health Commission of China Shandong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University, Jinan, 250014, China
Zhenya Fang
Key Laboratory of Birth Regulation and Control Technology of National Health Commission of China Shandong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University, Jinan, 250014, China
Chunying Wang
Key Laboratory of Birth Regulation and Control Technology of National Health Commission of China Shandong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University, Jinan, 250014, China
Shiyu Liu
International Center, Jinan Foreign Language School, Jinan, 250108, China
Aijun Hao
Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of Ministry of Education, Shandong Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Department of Anatomy and Histoembryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China; Corresponding author.
Meihua Zhang
Key Laboratory of Birth Regulation and Control Technology of National Health Commission of China Shandong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University, Jinan, 250014, China; Corresponding author.
Polycomb group RING finger (PCGF) proteins, a crucial subunits of the Polycomb complex, plays an important role in regulating gene expression, embryonic development, and cell fate determination. In our research, we investigated Pcgf5, one of the six PCGF homologs, and its impact on the differentiation of P19 cells into neural stem cells. Our findings revealed that knockdown of Pcgf5 resulted in a significant decrease in the expression levels of the neuronal markers Sox2, Zfp521, and Pax6, while the expression levels of the pluripotent markers Oct4 and Nanog increased. Conversely, Pcgf5 overexpression upregulated the expression of Sox2 and Pax6, while downregulating the expression of Oct4 and Nanog. Additionally, our analysis revealed that Pcgf5 suppresses Wnt3 expression via the activation of Notch1/Hes1, and ultimately governs the differentiation fate of neural stem cells. To further validate our findings, we conducted in vivo experiments in zebrafish. We found that knockdown of pcgf5a using morpholino resulted in the downregulated expression of neurodevelopmental genes such as sox2, sox3, and foxg1 in zebrafish embryos. Consequently, these changes led to neurodevelopmental defects. In conclusion, our study highlights the important role of Pcgf5 in neural induction and the determination of neural cell fate.
