TrxG complexes in pancreas endocrine-cell specification

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Transcriptional regulation is a critical component of pancreas lineage specification and maturation. Despite this the specific mechanisms by which transcription factors involved in this process are regulate are not well understood. Epigenetic factors, which include DNA methylation and histone modifications are central mediators of transcriptional regulation. Our previous data indicated that many of the transcription factors necessary for endocrine and exocrine lineage commitment need to gain an active chromatin state, and/or to remove repressive histone modifications to become expressed. We hypothesized that these changes were catalyzed by trithorax group (TrxG) complexes. TrxG complexes all contain the core proteins Ash2l, Dpy30, Rbbp5, and Wdr5 that are critical to their assembly and/or function. Thus to test our hypothesis that this complex was necessary for the induction of transcription factors necessary for endocrine and exocrine lineage commitment we knocked-out the core component Dpy30 in pancreas progenitors. Our preliminary data suggests that in these mice specification of pancreas progenitors into both endocrine and exocrine lineages is severely compromised.