Authors
Joel Johnson George, Mikko Oittinen, Laura Martin-Diaz, Veronika Zapilko, Sharif Iqbal, Terhi Rintakangas, Fábio Tadeu Arrojo Martins, Henri Niskanen, Pekka Katajisto, Minna Kaikkonen, Keijo Viiri
Publication date
2020/11/13
Journal
bioRxiv
Pages
2020.11. 13.379610
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Description
Microfold cells (M cells) are immunosurveillance epithelial cells located in the Peyer’s patches in the intestine responsible for monitoring and transcytosis of antigens, microorganisms and pathogens. Many transcription factors, e.g., Spi-B and Sox8, necessary to M cell differentiation have been described but the exhaustive set of factors sufficient for differentiation and development of a mature M cell remains elusive. Moreover, the role of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) as an epigenetic regulator of M cell development has not yet been interrogated. Here, we show that PRC2 regulates a significant set of genes during the M cell differentiation including many transcription factors. Estrogen related receptor gamma (Esrrg) is a novel M cell specific transcription factor acting on a RankL-Rank induced NF-kB pathway, upstream of Sox8 and necessary but not sufficient for a mature M cell marker Gp2 expression. To conclude, with the aid of PRC2 target survey we identified the list of developmental genes specifically implicated in M cell development and Essrg as a necessary factor for Sox8-mediated M cell differentiation.
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