The Long Non-coding RNA Cyrano Is Dispensable for Pluripotency of Murine and Human Pluripotent Stem Cells.
Hannah J Hunkler, Jeannine Hoepfner, Cheng-Kai Huang, Shambhabi Chatterjee, Monica Jara-Avaca, Ina Gruh, Emiliano Bolesani, Robert Zweigerdt, Thomas Thum, Christian Bär
Author Information
Hannah J Hunkler: Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS), Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Jeannine Hoepfner: Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS), Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Cheng-Kai Huang: Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS), Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Shambhabi Chatterjee: Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS), Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Monica Jara-Avaca: REBIRTH-Centre for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO), Department of Cardiac, Thoracic-, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Ina Gruh: REBIRTH-Centre for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO), Department of Cardiac, Thoracic-, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Emiliano Bolesani: REBIRTH-Centre for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO), Department of Cardiac, Thoracic-, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Robert Zweigerdt: REBIRTH-Centre for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO), Department of Cardiac, Thoracic-, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Thomas Thum: Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS), Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; REBIRTH-Centre for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Christian Bär: Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS), Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; REBIRTH-Centre for Translational Regenerative Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: baer.christian@mh-hannover.de.
Pluripotency is tightly regulated and is crucial for stem cells and their implementation for regenerative medicine. Non-coding RNAs, especially long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) emerged as orchestrators of versatile (patho)-physiological processes on the transcriptional and post-transcriptional level. Cyrano, a well-conserved lncRNA, is highly expressed in stem cells suggesting an important role in pluripotency, which we aimed to investigate in loss-off-function (LOF) experiments. Cyrano was described previously to be essential for the maintenance of mouse embryonic stem cell (ESC) pluripotency. In contrast, using different genetic models, we here found Cyrano to be dispensable in murine and Human iPSCs and in Human ESCs. RNA sequencing revealed only a moderate influence of Cyrano on the global transcriptome. In line, Cyrano-depleted iPSCs retained the potential to differentiate into the three germ layers. In conclusion, different methods were applied for LOF studies to rule out potential off-target effects. These approaches revealed that Cyrano does not impact pluripotency.
