No evidence of mitochondrial respiratory dysfunction in OGG1-null mice deficient in removal of 8-oxodeoxyguanine from mitochondrial DNA

Accumulation of high levels of mutagenic oxidative mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lesions like 8-oxodeoxyguanine (8-oxodG) is thought to be involved in the development of mitochondrial dysfunction in aging and in disorders associated with aging. Mice null for oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1) are deficient in 8-oxodG removal and accumulate 8-oxodG in mtDNA to levels 20-fold higher than in wild-type mice (N.C. Souza-Pinto et al., 2001, Cancer Res. 61, 5378-5381). We have used these animals to investigate the effects on mitochondrial function of accumulating this particular oxidative base modification. Despite the presence of high levels of 8-oxodG, mitochondria isolated from livers and hearts of Ogg1-/- mice were functionally normal. No differences were detected in maximal (chemically uncoupled) respiration rates, ADP phosphorylating respiration rates, or nonphosphorylating rates with glutamate/malate or with succinate/rotenone. Similarly, maximal activities of respiratory complexes I and IV from liver and heart were not different between wild-type and Ogg1-/- mice. In addition, there was no indication of increased oxidative stress in mitochondria from Ogg1-/- mice, as measured by mitochondrial protein carbonyl content. We conclude, therefore, that highly elevated levels of 8-oxodG in mtDNA do not cause mitochondrial respiratory dysfunction in mice.     

Multiplexing of ChIP-Seq Samples in an Optimized Experimental Condition Has Minimal Impact on Peak Detection

Multiplexing samples in sequencing experiments is a common approach to maximize information yield while minimizing cost. In most cases the number of samples that are multiplexed is determined by financial consideration or experimental convenience, with limited understanding on the effects on the experimental results. Here we set to examine the impact of multiplexing ChIP-seq experiments on the ability to identify a specific epigenetic modification. We performed peak detection analyses to determine the effects of multiplexing. These include false discovery rates, size, position and statistical significance of peak detection, and changes in gene annotation. We found that, for histone marker H3K4me3, one can multiplex up to 8 samples (7 IP + 1 input) at ~21 million single-end reads each and still detect over 90% of all peaks found when using a full lane for sample (~181 million reads). Furthermore, there are no variations introduced by indexing or lane batch effects and importantly there is no significant reduction in the number of genes with neighboring H3K4me3 peaks. We conclude that, for a well characterized antibody and, therefore, model IP condition, multiplexing 8 samples per lane is sufficient to capture most of the biological signal.     

Unsuspected effects of a lung-specific Cre deleter mouse line

Cre-expressing mouse lines constitute an important asset to mammalian genetics, allowing the deletion of genes in a spatio-temporal specific manner. Our study on Hox gene function in lung development has led us to use a lung endoderm-specific deletion with the Sftpc-cre mouse line expressing the Cre recombinase gene under the control of human surfactant protein C regulatory sequences. In control experiments, the Cre recombinase faithfully activated the Rosa26-lacZ reporter gene in lung epithelium. However as early as e15.5, lungs from Sftp-Cre(+) embryos showed abnormal dilated cysts. This unexpected phenotype was also observed in mice carrying the conditional lung epithelial Hoxa5 deletion, indicating some bias due to Cre deleterious effects. Excessive apoptosis, likely due to Cre toxicity, could explain the abnormal cysts. Our findings illustrate the need for appropriate control experiments and careful interpretation of data to discriminate between the phenotype due to the targeted mutation and the confounding effects of the Cre recombinase.     

Evidence for NG2-glia Derived,Adult-Born Functional Neurons in the Hypothalamus

Accumulating evidence suggests that the adult murine hypothalamus, a control site of several fundamental homeostatic processes, has neurogenic capacity. Correspondingly, the adult hypothalamus exhibits considerable cell proliferation that is ongoing even in the absence of external stimuli, and some of the newborn cells have been shown to mature into cells that express neuronal fate markers. However, the identity and characteristics of proliferating cells within the hypothalamic parenchyma have yet to be thoroughly investigated. Here we show that a subset of NG2-glia distributed throughout the mediobasal hypothalamus are proliferative and express the stem cell marker Sox2. We tracked the constitutive differentiation of hypothalamic NG2-glia by employing genetic fate mapping based on inducible Cre recombinase expression under the control of the NG2 promoter, demonstrating that adult hypothalamic NG2-glia give rise to substantial numbers of APC+ oligodendrocytes and a smaller population of HuC/D+ or NeuN+ neurons. Labelling with the cell proliferation marker BrdU confirmed that some NG2-derived neurons have proliferated shortly before differentiation. Furthermore, patch-clamp electrophysiology revealed that some NG2-derived cells display an immature neuronal phenotype and appear to receive synaptic input indicative of their electrical integration in local hypothalamic circuits. Together, our studies show that hypothalamic NG2-glia are able to take on neuronal fates and mature into functional neurons, indicating that NG2-glia contribute to the neurogenic capacity of the adult hypothalamus.