Fig. 4: Mechano-osmotic signals control kinetics of lineage commitment.
From: Mechano-osmotic signals control chromatin state and fate transitions in pluripotent stem cells
a,b, Schematic of the experimental outline (a) and PCA plot (b) of bulk RNA-seq in cells subjected to compression (Comp) or hypertonic (Hyper) shock and recovery in the indicated media conditions. Note the divergence in transcriptomic responses to hypertonic shock and mechanical compression in pluripotency medium, and their convergence in basal medium. c, A heatmap of the top variable genes from bulk RNA-seq in conditions indicated. Note the increase in differentiation gene expression in cells compressed in basal medium. d, Transcription factor binding enrichment analysis from genes upregulated in the bulk RNA-seq for the indicated conditions. e, Representative examples of gene expression changes across the conditions. Note increased expression of differentiation genes in basal compressed and hypertonic shock conditions (n = 2 biological replicates (Comp)/3 biological replicates rest, pooled; mean ± s.d.). f,g, Schematic of experimental outline (f), representative images and quantification (g) of hiPS cells immunostained for Oct4 and Pax6 after compression or hypertonic shock. Note the increased differentiation in compressed cells or cells exposed to hypertonic shock (scale bars, 75 µm; n = 3 independent experiments with 900 (control); 1,190 (compression); 949 (hypertonic) total nuclei per condition; ANOVA/Kruskal–Wallis). PC, principal component; basal med, basal media; pluri, pluripotency.
