Michael Kulik

University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

Are you Michael Kulik?

Claim your profile

Publications (7)51.46 Total impact

  • Article: Regulation of glycan structures in murine embryonic stem cells: combined transcript profiling of glycan-related genes and glycan structural analysis.
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: The abundance and structural diversity of glycans on glycoproteins and glycolipids are highly regulated and play important roles during vertebrate development. Because of the challenges associated with studying glycan regulation in vertebrate embryos, we have chosen to study mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells as they differentiate into embryoid bodies (EBs) or into extraembryonic endodermal (ExE) cells as a model for cellular differentiation. We profiled N- and O-glycan structures isolated from these cell populations and examined transcripts encoding the corresponding enzymatic machinery for glycan biosynthesis in an effort to probe the mechanisms that drive the regulation of glycan diversity. During differentiation from mouse ES cells to either EBs or ExE cells, general trends were detected. The predominance of high mannose N-glycans in ES cells shifted to an equal abundance of complex and high mannose structures, increased sialylation, and increased α-Gal termination in the differentiated cell populations. While Core 1 O-glycan structures predominated in all three cell populations, increased sialylation and increased core diversity characterized the O-glycans of both differentiated cell types. Increased polysialylation was also found in both differentiated cell types. Differences between the two differentiated cell types included greater sialylation of N-glycans in EBs, while α-Gal capped structures were more prevalent in ExE cells. Changes in glycan structures generally, but not uniformly, correlated with alterations in transcript abundance for the corresponding biosynthetic enzymes suggesting transcriptional regulation contributes significantly to the regulation of glycan expression. Knowledge of glycan structural diversity and transcript regulation should provide greater understanding of the roles of protein glycosylation in vertebrate development.
    Journal of Biological Chemistry 09/2012; · 4.77 Impact Factor
  • Source
    Article: Program and abstracts for the 2011 Meeting of the Society for Glycobiology.
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Cell surface mucins configure the cell surface by presenting extended protein backbones that are heavily O-glycosylated. The glycopeptide structures establish physicochemical properties at the cell surface that enable and block the formation of biologically important molecular complexes. Some mucins, such as MUC1, associate with receptor tyrosine kinases and other cell surface receptors, and engage in signal transduction in order to communicate information regarding conditions at the cell surface to the nucleus. In that context, the MUC1 cytoplasmic tail (MUC1CT) receives phosphorylation signals from receptor tyrosine kinases and serine/threonine kinases, which enables its association with different signaling complexes that conduct these signals to the nucleus and perhaps other subcellular organelles. We have detected the MUC1CT at promoters of over 500 genes, in association with several different transcription factors, and have shown that promoter occupancy can vary under different growth factor conditions. However, the full biochemical nature of the nuclear forms of MUC1 and its function at these promoter regions remain undefined. I will present evidence that nuclear forms of the MUC1CT include extracellular and cytoplasmic tail domains. In addition, I will discuss evidence for a hypothesis that the MUC1CT possesses a novel catalytic function that enables remodeling of the transcription factor occupancy of promoters, and thereby engages in regulation of gene expression.
    Glycobiology 11/2011; 21(11):1454-531. · 3.58 Impact Factor
  • Source
    Article: Replication timing: a fingerprint for cell identity and pluripotency.
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Many types of epigenetic profiling have been used to classify stem cells, stages of cellular differentiation, and cancer subtypes. Existing methods focus on local chromatin features such as DNA methylation and histone modifications that require extensive analysis for genome-wide coverage. Replication timing has emerged as a highly stable cell type-specific epigenetic feature that is regulated at the megabase-level and is easily and comprehensively analyzed genome-wide. Here, we describe a cell classification method using 67 individual replication profiles from 34 mouse and human cell lines and stem cell-derived tissues, including new data for mesendoderm, definitive endoderm, mesoderm and smooth muscle. Using a Monte-Carlo approach for selecting features of replication profiles conserved in each cell type, we identify "replication timing fingerprints" unique to each cell type and apply a k nearest neighbor approach to predict known and unknown cell types. Our method correctly classifies 67/67 independent replication-timing profiles, including those derived from closely related intermediate stages. We also apply this method to derive fingerprints for pluripotency in human and mouse cells. Interestingly, the mouse pluripotency fingerprint overlaps almost completely with previously identified genomic segments that switch from early to late replication as pluripotency is lost. Thereafter, replication timing and transcription within these regions become difficult to reprogram back to pluripotency, suggesting these regions highlight an epigenetic barrier to reprogramming. In addition, the major histone cluster Hist1 consistently becomes later replicating in committed cell types, and several histone H1 genes in this cluster are downregulated during differentiation, suggesting a possible instrument for the chromatin compaction observed during differentiation. Finally, we demonstrate that unknown samples can be classified independently using site-specific PCR against fingerprint regions. In sum, replication fingerprints provide a comprehensive means for cell characterization and are a promising tool for identifying regions with cell type-specific organization.
    PLoS Computational Biology 10/2011; 7(10):e1002225. · 5.22 Impact Factor
  • Article: Evolutionarily conserved replication timing profiles predict long-range chromatin interactions and distinguish closely related cell types.
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: To identify evolutionarily conserved features of replication timing and their relationship to epigenetic properties, we profiled replication timing genome-wide in four human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines, hESC-derived neural precursor cells (NPCs), lymphoblastoid cells, and two human induced pluripotent stem cell lines (hiPSCs), and compared them with related mouse cell types. Results confirm the conservation of coordinately replicated megabase-sized "replication domains" punctuated by origin-suppressed regions. Differentiation-induced replication timing changes in both species occur in 400- to 800-kb units and are similarly coordinated with transcription changes. A surprising degree of cell-type-specific conservation in replication timing was observed across regions of conserved synteny, despite considerable species variation in the alignment of replication timing to isochore GC/LINE-1 content. Notably, hESC replication timing profiles were significantly more aligned to mouse epiblast-derived stem cells (mEpiSCs) than to mouse ESCs. Comparison with epigenetic marks revealed a signature of chromatin modifications at the boundaries of early replicating domains and a remarkably strong link between replication timing and spatial proximity of chromatin as measured by Hi-C analysis. Thus, early and late initiation of replication occurs in spatially separate nuclear compartments, but rarely within the intervening chromatin. Moreover, cell-type-specific conservation of the replication program implies conserved developmental changes in spatial organization of chromatin. Together, our results reveal evolutionarily conserved aspects of developmentally regulated replication programs in mammals, demonstrate the power of replication profiling to distinguish closely related cell types, and strongly support the hypothesis that replication timing domains are spatially compartmentalized structural and functional units of three-dimensional chromosomal architecture.
    Genome Research 06/2010; 20(6):761-70. · 13.61 Impact Factor
  • Article: Genome-wide dynamics of replication timing revealed by in vitro models of mouse embryogenesis.
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) is accompanied by changes in replication timing. To explore the relationship between replication timing and cell fate transitions, we constructed genome-wide replication-timing profiles of 22 independent mouse cell lines representing 10 stages of early mouse development, and transcription profiles for seven of these stages. Replication profiles were cell-type specific, with 45% of the genome exhibiting significant changes at some point during development that were generally coordinated with changes in transcription. Comparison of early and late epiblast cell culture models revealed a set of early-to-late replication switches completed at a stage equivalent to the post-implantation epiblast, prior to germ layer specification and down-regulation of key pluripotency transcription factors [POU5F1 (also known as OCT4)/NANOG/SOX2] and coinciding with the emergence of compact chromatin near the nuclear periphery. These changes were maintained in all subsequent lineages (lineage-independent) and involved a group of irreversibly down-regulated genes, at least some of which were repositioned closer to the nuclear periphery. Importantly, many genomic regions of partially reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem cells (piPSCs) failed to re-establish ESC-specific replication-timing and transcription programs. These regions were enriched for lineage-independent early-to-late changes, which in female cells included the inactive X chromosome. Together, these results constitute a comprehensive "fate map" of replication-timing changes during early mouse development. Moreover, they support a model in which a distinct set of replication domains undergoes a form of "autosomal Lyonization" in the epiblast that is difficult to reprogram and coincides with an epigenetic commitment to differentiation prior to germ layer specification.
    Genome Research 12/2009; 20(2):155-69. · 13.61 Impact Factor
  • Article: Transcript profiling and lipidomic analysis of ceramide subspecies in mouse embryonic stem cells and embryoid bodies.
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Ceramides (Cers) are important in embryogenesis, but no comprehensive analysis of gene expression for Cer metabolism nor the Cer amounts and subspecies has been conducted with an often used model: mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) versus embroid bodies (EBs). Measuring the mRNA levels by quantitative RT-PCR and the amounts of the respective metabolites by LC-ESI/MS/MS, notable differences between R1 mESCs and EBs were: EBs have higher mRNAs for CerS1 and CerS3, which synthesize C18- and C>or=24-carbons dihydroceramides (DH)Cer, respectively; EBs have higher CerS2 (for C24:0- and C24:1-); and EBs have lower CerS5 + CerS6 (for C16-). In agreement with these findings, EBs have (DH)Cer with higher proportions of C18-, C24- and C26- and less C16-fatty acids, and longer (DH)Cer are also seen in monohexosyl Cers and sphingomyelins. EBs had higher mRNAs for fatty acyl-CoA elongases that produce C18-, C24-, and C26-fatty acyl-CoAs (Elovl3 and Elovl6), and higher amounts of these cosubstrates for CerS. Thus, these studies have found generally good agreement between genomic and metabolomic data in defining that conversion of mESCs to EBs is accompanied by a large number of changes in gene expression and subspecies distributions for both sphingolipids and fatty acyl-CoAs.
    The Journal of Lipid Research 09/2009; 51(3):480-9. · 5.56 Impact Factor
  • Source
    Article: Glycomics of proteoglycan biosynthesis in murine embryonic stem cell differentiation.
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) play a critical role in binding and activation of growth factors involved in cell signaling critical for developmental biology. The biosynthetic pathways for GAGs have been elucidated over the past decade and now analytical methodology makes it possible to determine GAG composition in as few as 10 million cells. A glycomics approach was used to examine GAG content, composition, and the level of transcripts encoding for GAG biosynthetic enzymes as murine embryonic stem cells (mESCs) differentiate to embryoid bodies (EBs) and to extraembryonic endodermal cells (ExE) to better understand the role of GAGs in stem cell differentiation. Hyaluronan synthesis was enhanced by 13- and 24-fold, most likely due to increased expression of hyaluronan synthase-2. Chondroitin sulfate (CS)/dermatan sulfate (DS) synthesis was enhanced by 4- and 6-fold, and heparan sulfate (HS) synthesis was enhanced by 5- and 8-fold following the transition from mESC to EB and ExE. Transcripts associated with the synthesis of the early precursors were largely unaltered, suggesting other factors account for enhanced GAG synthesis. The composition of both CS/DS and HS also changed upon differentiation. Interestingly, CS type E and highly sulfated HS both increase as mESCs differentiate to EBs and ExE. Differentiation was also accompanied by enhanced 2-sulfation in both CS/DS and HS families. Transcript levels for core proteins generally showed increases or remained constant upon mESC differentiation. Finally, transcripts encoding selected enzymes and isoforms, including GlcNAc-4,6-O-sulfotransferase, C5-epimerases, and 3-O-sulfotransferases involved in late GAG biosynthesis, were also enriched. These biosynthetic enzymes are particularly important in introducing GAG fine structure, essential for intercellular communication, cell adhesion, and outside-in signaling. Knowing the changes in GAG fine structure should improve our understanding the biological properties of differentiated stem cells.
    Journal of Proteome Research 12/2007; 6(11):4374-87. · 5.11 Impact Factor