Elucidation of the mechanisms of novel epigenetic regulations in ovarian differentiation

我们发现，SF-1的表达诱导间充质干细胞向类固醇细胞分化。为了阐明卵巢细胞分化为甾体细胞的表观遗传调控机制，我们利用分化后的细胞进行了一系列实验。(1)一是核配合物组分与SF-1的功能分析。(2)另一种方法是结合ChIP-on-Chip和DNA微阵列分析，鉴定新的SF-1靶基因。(1)转录因子C/ ebp β被鉴定为与SF-1的核复合物组分之一。我们发现C/ ebp β与SF-1共同增强了HSD3B2基因表达的转录活性，HSD3B2基因编码孕酮生成酶之一。(2)我们发现GSTA3、ALAS1和FDXR是sf -1新的靶基因。SF-1通过表观遗传改变增强了这些基因的转录活性。我们还发现这些因素与类固醇形成有关。这些结果表明，这些因子是新的sf -1靶基因，参与类固醇激素的产生。

We showed that SF-1 expression induces differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into steroidogenic cells. In order to elucidate the mechanisms of epigenetic regulations in differentiation into steroidogenic cells including ovarian cells, we attempted a couple of experiments using the differentiated cell.(1) One is functional analysis of the nuclear complex components with SF-1.(2) The other is combined-analysis with ChIP-on-Chip and DNA microarray to identify novel SF-1 target genes.(1) Transcription factor C/EBPβwas identified as one of the nuclear complex components with SF-1. We found that C/EBPβcooperated with SF-1 to enhance the transcriptional activity of HSD3B2 gene expression, which codes for one of the enzymes for progesterone production.(2) We identified GSTA3, ALAS1 and FDXR as novel SF-1-target genes. Transcriptional activity of these genes were enhanced by SF-1 via epigenetic change. We also found these factors were involved in steroidogenesis. These results indicate that these factors are novel SF-1-target genes and participate in steroid hormone production.