microRNAs (miRs) naturally fine-tune the responsiveness of signaling pathways, and a number of miRs are known to play important roles in heart development and disease. To date, knowledge of miRs involved in any biological process comes primarily from expression profiling. Relatively few miRs have been tested for actual regulatory roles, therefore our current knowledge of both the prevalence, importance and actual function of miRs in biological control remains rudimentary. Our data show that it is feasible to apply high throughput technology to screen stem and progenitor cell-based assays against whole genome libraries of miR oligonucleotide mimics. Using this approach, we discovered miRs that play unanticipated roles in initiating embryonic heart formation and act by distinguishing cardiac mesoderm from foregut endoderm. Here we propose to apply this same approach to identify miRs that control the next step in cardiogenesis: the differentiation and diversification cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle, and vascular endothelial cells from a common progenitor. Although the proper diversification of cardiopoietic lineages is critical to heart formation, regeneration and disease, little is known about how the process is controlled. To address this question, we will apply whole genome miR library screening, followed by an iterative process of validation of individual miRs and targets and model building to yield a refined network of signaling proteins and miRs that control cardiopoiesis. The network of miRs and target proteins will be evaluated through targeted gain and loss of function studies in embryos to visualize how miRs regulate signaling proteins in order to guide cardiopoiesis. This research will yield two outcomes: First, the functional screening and subsequent in vivo testing will reveal miRs that control cardiopoiesis and hence be important for development, disease and regeneration. Second, we will construct and test signaling networks composed of the miR targets that will offer insight into the systems-level control of cardiopoiesis. The research is innovative in that it merges state of the art functional screening of miRs with miR target identification and systems analysis in order to expose the logic underying the emergence of distinct cell types in the heart from stem cells.

Public Health Relevance

microRNAs have emerged as key regulators of many cellular processes, including heart development and disease. However, relatively few microRNAs have been functionally tested, so appreciation of the prevalence and importance of microRNA control of cardiac biology and physiology remains fragmentary. Here we will apply high throughput drug screening technology to discover microRNAs and target proteins that control heart development, revealing how diverse types of heart cells from stem and progenitor cells.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
7R01HL113601-03
Application #
8787935
Study Section
Cardiac Contractility, Hypertrophy, and Failure Study Section (CCHF)
Program Officer
Schramm, Charlene A
Project Start
2014-02-05
Project End
2017-03-31
Budget Start
2014-08-20
Budget End
2015-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$417,094
Indirect Cost
$141,224
Name
University of California San Diego
Department
Engineering (All Types)
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
804355790
City
La Jolla
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92093
Diez-Cuñado, Marta; Wei, Ke; Bushway, Paul J et al. (2018) miRNAs that Induce Human Cardiomyocyte Proliferation Converge on the Hippo Pathway. Cell Rep 23:2168-2174
Cunningham, Thomas J; Yu, Michael S; McKeithan, Wesley L et al. (2017) Id genes are essential for early heart formation. Genes Dev 31:1325-1338
Molokanova, Elena; Mercola, Mark; Savchenko, Alex (2017) Bringing new dimensions to drug discovery screening: impact of cellular stimulation technologies. Drug Discov Today 22:1045-1055
McKeithan, Wesley L; Savchenko, Alex; Yu, Michael S et al. (2017) An Automated Platform for Assessment of Congenital and Drug-Induced Arrhythmia with hiPSC-Derived Cardiomyocytes. Front Physiol 8:766
Díaz-Trelles, Ramón; Scimia, Maria Cecilia; Bushway, Paul et al. (2016) Notch-independent RBPJ controls angiogenesis in the adult heart. Nat Commun 7:12088
Shen, Xiaopeng; Soibam, Benjamin; Benham, Ashley et al. (2016) miR-322/-503 cluster is expressed in the earliest cardiac progenitor cells and drives cardiomyocyte specification. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113:9551-6
Zaretski, Aliaksandr V; Root, Samuel E; Savchenko, Alex et al. (2016) Metallic Nanoislands on Graphene as Highly Sensitive Transducers of Mechanical, Biological, and Optical Signals. Nano Lett 16:1375-80
Del Álamo, Juan C; Lemons, Derek; Serrano, Ricardo et al. (2016) High throughput physiological screening of iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes for drug development. Biochim Biophys Acta 1863:1717-27
Liu, Yu; Mercola, Mark; Schwartz, Robert J (2016) The All-Chemical Approach: A Solution for Converting Fibroblasts Into Myocytes. Circ Res 119:505-7
Spiering, Sean; Davidovics, Herman; Bushway, Paul J et al. (2015) High content screening for modulators of cardiac differentiation in human pluripotent stem cells. Methods Mol Biol 1263:43-61

Showing the most recent 10 out of 26 publications