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Lagman D, Leon A, Cieminska N, Deng W, Chatzigeorgiou M, Henriet S, Chourrout D. Pax3/7 gene function in Oikopleura dioica supports a neuroepithelial-like origin for its house-making Fol territory. Dev Biol 2024; 516:207-220. [PMID: 39181419 DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2024.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2023] [Revised: 08/15/2024] [Accepted: 08/19/2024] [Indexed: 08/27/2024]
Abstract
Larvacean tunicates feature a spectacular innovation not seen in other animals - the trunk oikoplastic epithelium (OE). This epithelium produces a house, a large and complex extracellular structure used for filtering and concentrating food particles. Previously we identified several homeobox transcription factor genes expressed during early OE patterning. Among these are two Pax3/7 copies that we named pax37A and pax37B. The vertebrate homologs, PAX3 and PAX7 are involved in developmental processes related to neural crest and muscles. In the ascidian tunicate Ciona intestinalis, Pax3/7 plays a role in the development of cells deriving from the neural plate border, including trunk epidermal sensory neurons and tail nerve cord neurons, as well as in the neural tube closure. Here we have investigated the roles of Oikopleura dioica pax37A and pax37B in the development of the OE, by using CRISPR-Cas9 mutant lines and analyzing scRNA-seq data from wild-type animals. We found that pax37B but not pax37A is essential for the differentiation of cell fields that produce the food concentrating filter of the house: the anterior Fol, giant Fol and Nasse cells. Trajectory analysis supported a neuroepithelial-like or a preplacodal ectoderm transcriptional signature in these cells. We propose that the highly specialized secretory epithelial cells of the Fol region either maintained or evolved neuroepithelial features. This is supported by a fragmented gene regulatory network involved in their development that also operates in ascidian epidermal neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Lagman
- Michael Sars Centre, University of Bergen, Bergen, NO-5020, Norway; Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE-75123, Sweden.
| | - Anthony Leon
- Michael Sars Centre, University of Bergen, Bergen, NO-5020, Norway
| | - Nadia Cieminska
- Michael Sars Centre, University of Bergen, Bergen, NO-5020, Norway
| | - Wei Deng
- Michael Sars Centre, University of Bergen, Bergen, NO-5020, Norway
| | | | - Simon Henriet
- Michael Sars Centre, University of Bergen, Bergen, NO-5020, Norway
| | - Daniel Chourrout
- Michael Sars Centre, University of Bergen, Bergen, NO-5020, Norway.
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2
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Johnson CJ, Razy-Krajka F, Zeng F, Piekarz KM, Biliya S, Rothbächer U, Stolfi A. Specification of distinct cell types in a sensory-adhesive organ important for metamorphosis in tunicate larvae. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002555. [PMID: 38478577 PMCID: PMC10962819 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 03/25/2024] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
The papillae of tunicate larvae contribute sensory, adhesive, and metamorphosis-regulating functions that are crucial for the biphasic lifestyle of these marine, non-vertebrate chordates. We have identified additional molecular markers for at least 5 distinct cell types in the papillae of the model tunicate Ciona, allowing us to further study the development of these organs. Using tissue-specific CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis and other molecular perturbations, we reveal the roles of key transcription factors and signaling pathways that are important for patterning the papilla territory into a highly organized array of different cell types and shapes. We further test the contributions of different transcription factors and cell types to the production of the adhesive glue that allows for larval attachment during settlement, and to the processes of tail retraction and body rotation during metamorphosis. With this study, we continue working towards connecting gene regulation to cellular functions that control the developmental transition between the motile larva and sessile adult of Ciona.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Johnson
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Florian Razy-Krajka
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Fan Zeng
- Department of Zoology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Katarzyna M Piekarz
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Shweta Biliya
- Molecular Evolution Core, Petit H. Parker Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Ute Rothbächer
- Department of Zoology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Alberto Stolfi
- School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
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3
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Jenike AE, Jenike KM, Peterson KJ, Fromm B, Halushka MK. Direct observation of the evolution of cell-type-specific microRNA expression signatures supports the hematopoietic origin model of endothelial cells. Evol Dev 2023; 25:226-239. [PMID: 37157156 PMCID: PMC10302300 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2022] [Revised: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The evolution of specialized cell-types is a long-standing interest of biologists, but given the deep time-scales very difficult to reconstruct or observe. microRNAs have been linked to the evolution of cellular complexity and may inform on specialization. The endothelium is a vertebrate-specific specialization of the circulatory system that enabled a critical new level of vasoregulation. The evolutionary origin of these endothelial cells is unclear. We hypothesized that Mir-126, an endothelial cell-specific microRNA may be informative. We here reconstruct the evolutionary history of Mir-126. Mir-126 likely appeared in the last common ancestor of vertebrates and tunicates, which was a species without an endothelium, within an intron of the evolutionary much older EGF Like Domain Multiple (Egfl) locus. Mir-126 has a complex evolutionary history due to duplications and losses of both the host gene and the microRNA. Taking advantage of the strong evolutionary conservation of the microRNA among Olfactores, and using RNA in situ hybridization, we localized Mir-126 in the tunicate Ciona robusta. We found exclusive expression of the mature Mir-126 in granular amebocytes, supporting a long-proposed scenario that endothelial cells arose from hemoblasts, a type of proto-endothelial amoebocyte found throughout invertebrates. This observed change of expression of Mir-126 from proto-endothelial amoebocytes in the tunicate to endothelial cells in vertebrates is the first direct observation of the evolution of a cell-type in relation to microRNA expression indicating that microRNAs can be a prerequisite of cell-type evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana E. Jenike
- Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205 USA
| | - Katharine M. Jenike
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205 USA
| | - Kevin J. Peterson
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH, USA
| | - Bastian Fromm
- The Arctic University Museum of Norway, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, 9006 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Marc K. Halushka
- Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205 USA
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4
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Papadogiannis V, Pennati A, Parker HJ, Rothbächer U, Patthey C, Bronner ME, Shimeld SM. Hmx gene conservation identifies the origin of vertebrate cranial ganglia. Nature 2022; 605:701-705. [PMID: 35585239 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04742-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2019] [Accepted: 04/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The evolutionary origin of vertebrates included innovations in sensory processing associated with the acquisition of a predatory lifestyle1. Vertebrates perceive external stimuli through sensory systems serviced by cranial sensory ganglia, whose neurons arise predominantly from cranial placodes; however, the understanding of the evolutionary origin of placodes and cranial sensory ganglia is hampered by the anatomical differences between living lineages and the difficulty in assigning homology between cell types and structures. Here we show that the homeobox transcription factor Hmx is a constitutive component of vertebrate sensory ganglion development and that in the tunicate Ciona intestinalis, Hmx is necessary and sufficient to drive the differentiation programme of bipolar tail neurons, cells previously thought to be homologues of neural crest2,3. Using Ciona and lamprey transgenesis, we demonstrate that a unique, tandemly duplicated enhancer pair regulated Hmx expression in the stem-vertebrate lineage. We also show notably robust vertebrate Hmx enhancer function in Ciona, demonstrating that deep conservation of the upstream regulatory network spans the evolutionary origin of vertebrates. These experiments demonstrate regulatory and functional conservation between Ciona and vertebrate Hmx, and point to bipolar tail neurons as homologues of cranial sensory ganglia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vasileios Papadogiannis
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Gournes, Crete, Greece
| | - Alessandro Pennati
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Institute of Zoology and Center of Molecular Biosciences, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Hugo J Parker
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Ute Rothbächer
- Institute of Zoology and Center of Molecular Biosciences, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Cedric Patthey
- Department of Radiation Sciences, Oncology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Marianne E Bronner
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
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