1
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Stadtmauer DJ, Basanta Martínez S, Maziarz JD, Cole AG, Dagdas G, Smith GR, van Breukelen F, Pavličev M, Wagner GP. Cell type and cell signaling innovations underlying mammalian pregnancy. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.01.591945. [PMID: 38746137 PMCID: PMC11092578 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.01.591945] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
How fetal and maternal cell types have co-evolved to enable mammalian placentation poses a unique evolutionary puzzle. Here, we present a multi-species atlas integrating single-cell transcriptomes from six species bracketing therian mammal diversity. We find that invasive trophoblasts share a gene-expression signature across eutherians, and evidence that endocrine decidual cells evolved stepwise from an immunomodulatory cell type retained in Tenrec with affinity to human decidua of menstruation. We recover evolutionary patterns in ligand-receptor signaling: fetal and maternal cells show a pronounced tendency towards disambiguation, but a predicted arms race dynamic between them is limited. We reconstruct cell communication networks of extinct mammalian ancestors, finding strong integration of fetal trophoblast into maternal networks. Together, our results reveal a dynamic history of cell type and signaling evolution. Synopsis The fetal-maternal interface is one of the most intense loci of cell-cell signaling in the human body. Invasion of cells from the fetal placenta into the uterus, and the corresponding transformation of maternal tissues called decidualization, first evolved in the stem lineage of eutherian mammals( 1 , 2 ). Single-cell studies of the human fetal-maternal interface have provided new insight into the cell type diversity and cell-cell interactions governing this chimeric organ( 3-5 ). However, the fetal-maternal interface is also one of the most rapidly evolving, and hence most diverse, characters among mammals( 6 ), and an evolutionary analysis is missing. Here, we present and compare single-cell data from the fetal-maternal interface of species bracketing key events in mammal phylogeny: a marsupial (opossum, Monodelphis domestica ), the afrotherian Tenrec ecaudatus, and four Euarchontoglires - guinea pig and mouse (Rodentia) together with recent macaque and human data (primates) ( 4 , 5 , 7 ). We infer cell type homologies, identify a gene-expression signature of eutherian invasive trophoblast conserved over 99 million years, and discover a predecidual cell in the tenrec which suggests stepwise evolution of the decidual stromal cell. We reconstruct ancestral cell signaling networks, revealing the integration of fetal cell types into the interface. Finally, we test two long-standing theoretical predictions, the disambiguation hypothesis( 8 ) and escalation hypothesis( 9 ), at transcriptome-wide scale, finding divergence between fetal and maternal signaling repertoires but arms race dynamics restricted to a small subset of ligand-receptor pairs. In so doing, we trace the co-evolutionary history of cell types and their signaling across mammalian viviparity.
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2
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Benita O, Nesher N, Shomrat T. Neurophysiological measurements of planarian brain activity: a unique model for neuroscience research. Biol Open 2024; 13:bio060480. [PMID: 38979914 PMCID: PMC11391828 DOI: 10.1242/bio.060480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Planarians are well-known model organisms for regeneration and developmental biology research due to their remarkable regenerative capacity. Here, we aim to advocate for the use of planaria as a valuable model for neurobiology, as well. Planarians have most of the major qualities of more developed organisms, including a primal brain. These traits combined with their exceptional regeneration capabilities, allow neurobiological experiments not possible in any other model organism, as we demonstrate by electrophysiological recording from planaria with two heads that control a shared body. To facilitate planarian neuroscience research, we developed an extracellular multi-unit recording procedure for the planarians fragile brain (Dugesia japonica). We created a semi-intact preparation restrained with fine dissection pins, enabling hours of reliable recording, via a suction electrode. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility and potential of planarian neurophysiological research by characterizing the neuronal activity during simple learning processes and responses to various stimuli. In addition, we examined the use of linalool as anesthetic agent to allows recordings from an intact, large worm and for fine electrophysiological approaches such as intracellular recording. The demonstrated ability for neurophysiological measurements, along with the inherent advantages of planarians, promotes this exceptional model organism for neuroscience research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orel Benita
- Department of Neurobiology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Nir Nesher
- Faculty of Marine Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, Michmoret 4029700, Israel
| | - Tal Shomrat
- Faculty of Marine Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, Michmoret 4029700, Israel
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3
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Zhang R, Yang M, Schreiber J, O'Day DR, Turner JMA, Shendure J, Disteche CM, Deng X, Noble WS. Cross-species imputation and comparison of single-cell transcriptomic profiles. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.10.19.563173. [PMID: 37905060 PMCID: PMC10614954 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.19.563173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
Cross-species comparison and prediction of gene expression profiles are important to understand regulatory changes during evolution and to transfer knowledge learned from model organisms to humans. Single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) profiles enable us to capture gene expression profiles with respect to variations among individual cells; however, cross-species comparison of scRNA-seq profiles is challenging because of data sparsity, batch effects, and the lack of one-to-one cell matching across species. Moreover, single-cell profiles are challenging to obtain in certain biological contexts, limiting the scope of hypothesis generation. Here we developed Icebear, a neural network framework that decomposes single-cell measurements into factors representing cell identity, species, and batch factors. Icebear enables accurate prediction of single-cell gene expression profiles across species, thereby providing high-resolution cell type and disease profiles in under-characterized contexts. Icebear also facilitates direct cross-species comparison of single-cell expression profiles for conserved genes that are located on the X chromosome in eutherian mammals but on autosomes in chicken. This comparison, for the first time, revealed evolutionary and diverse adaptations of X-chromosome upregulation in mammals.
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4
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Pereira MAB, Pereira AKDS, Carlos TD, Dornelas ASP, Sarmento RA, Cavallini GS, Soares AMVM. Ecotoxicological evaluation of effluent from bovine slaughterhouses disinfected by peracetic acid (PAA) using the bioindicator Girardia tigrina. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 252:118756. [PMID: 38552830 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
The evaluation of the ecotoxicological effects of the effluent after treatment with peracetic acid is relevant to help establish reference concentrations for the disinfection process and waste recovery. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the ecotoxicity of effluent from a bovine slaughterhouse treated with peracetic acid on Girardia tigrina. The toxicity bioassays for planaria were the acute test (LC50) and chronic assays: locomotion, regeneration, reproduction and fertility. The results showed that the effluent treated with peracetic acid showed less toxicity than the effluent without application of peracetic acid. The effluent after peracetic acid application showed a chronic toxic effect in the reduction of locomotor speed in all studied disinfectant concentrations (0.8, 1.6, 3.3 and 6.6 μg L-1 of peracetic acid) and a delay in the formation of G. tigrina photoreceptors at the concentration of 6.6 μg L-1 of peracetic acid. Peracetic acid concentrations of 0.8, 1.6 and 3.3 μg L-1 were not toxic for blastema regeneration, photoreceptor and auricle formation, fecundity and fertility. In addition, this study assists in defining doses of peracetic acid to be recommended in order to ensure the wastewater disinfection process without causing harm to aquatic organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Amadeu M V M Soares
- Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies & Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal
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5
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Gravato C, da Silva Barbosa R, Cavallini GS, Cruz ÁB, Pereira DH, de Souza NLGD, Carlos TD, Soares AM, Sarmento RA. Theoretical insights, degradation, and sub-lethal toxicity of thiamethoxam to the planarian Girardia tigrina. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2024; 31:44068-44079. [PMID: 38922471 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-34067-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 06/18/2024] [Indexed: 06/27/2024]
Abstract
Advanced oxidative processes, such as Photo-Fenton, transform organic contaminants due to the attack by radicals. In this context, the lethal and sub-lethal effects of the Cruiser® 350FS (CRZ) with the active ingredient thiamethoxam (TMX) were investigated using the planarian Girardia tigrina. Degradation of thiamethoxam by the Fenton process was also assessed by using theoretical studies and the efficiency of Solar-Fenton versus Fenton. The 48 h LC50 value of CRZ for planarians was 478.6 mg L-1. The regeneration of planarians was significantly affected for concentrations ≥ 17 mg·L-1 of TMX (24 h). The Solar-Fenton showed a high degradation percentage reaching ~70%. The theoretical model showed the atoms of the TMX molecule that will suffer attacks from the formed radicals. Current results open new perspectives concerning the treatment of TMX in the aquatic environment because the 70% degradation seems to be sufficient to reach concentrations that do not induce sub-lethal effects in planarians. Further studies should determine if the by-products generated might be toxic for planaria or other organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Gravato
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) & CHANGE - Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Lisbon, 1749-016, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Lisbon, 1749-016, Portugal
| | - Rone da Silva Barbosa
- National Institute of Science and Technology on Terrestrial Ecotoxicology, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Produção Vegetal, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Campus de Gurupi, Gurupi, Tocantins, 77402-970, Brazil
| | - Grasiele Soares Cavallini
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Química, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Campus de Gurupi, Gurupi, Tocantins, 77402-970, Brazil
| | - Állefe Barbosa Cruz
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Química, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Campus de Gurupi, Gurupi, Tocantins, 77402-970, Brazil
| | - Douglas Henrique Pereira
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Química, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Campus de Gurupi, Gurupi, Tocantins, 77402-970, Brazil
| | | | - Thayrine Dias Carlos
- Bionorte - Rede de Biodiversidade e Biotecnologia da Amazônia Legal, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Campus de Gurupi, Gurupi, TO, 77402-970, Brazil
| | - Amadeu Mvm Soares
- CESAM & Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal
| | - Renato Almeida Sarmento
- National Institute of Science and Technology on Terrestrial Ecotoxicology, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Produção Vegetal, Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Campus de Gurupi, Gurupi, Tocantins, 77402-970, Brazil.
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Han Z, Yang C, He H, Huang T, Yin Q, Tian G, Wu Y, Hu W, Lu L, Bajpai AK, Mi J, Xu F. Systems Genetics Analyses Reveals Key Genes Related to Behavioral Traits in the Striatum of CFW Mice. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e0252242024. [PMID: 38777602 PMCID: PMC11211725 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0252-24.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2024] [Revised: 04/10/2024] [Accepted: 05/06/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
The striatum plays a central role in directing many complex behaviors ranging from motor control to action choice and reward learning. In our study, we used 55 male CFW mice with rapid decay linkage disequilibrium to systematically mine the striatum-related behavioral functional genes by analyzing their striatal transcriptomes and 79 measured behavioral phenotypic data. By constructing a gene coexpression network, we clustered the genes into 13 modules, with most of them being positively correlated with motor traits. Based on functional annotations as well as Fisher's exact and hypergeometric distribution tests, brown and magenta modules were identified as core modules. They were significantly enriched for striatal-related functional genes. Subsequent Mendelian randomization analysis verified the causal relationship between the core modules and dyskinesia. Through the intramodular gene connectivity analysis, Adcy5 and Kcnma1 were identified as brown and magenta module hub genes, respectively. Knock outs of both Adcy5 and Kcnma1 lead to motor dysfunction in mice, and KCNMA1 acts as a risk gene for schizophrenia and smoking addiction in humans. We also evaluated the cellular composition of each module and identified oligodendrocytes in the striatum to have a positive role in motor regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhe Han
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
- Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Molecular Targeting and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
| | - Chunhua Yang
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
- Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Molecular Targeting and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
| | - Hongjie He
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
- Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Molecular Targeting and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
| | - Tingting Huang
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
- Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Molecular Targeting and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
| | - Quanting Yin
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
- Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Molecular Targeting and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
| | - Geng Tian
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
- Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Molecular Targeting and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
| | - Yuyong Wu
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
| | - Wei Hu
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
| | - Lu Lu
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee 38163
| | - Akhilesh Kumar Bajpai
- Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee 38163
| | - Jia Mi
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
- Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Molecular Targeting and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
| | - Fuyi Xu
- School of Pharmacy, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
- Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Molecular Targeting and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment, Yantai 264003, Shandong Province, China
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7
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Gąsiorowski L, Chai C, Rozanski A, Purandare G, Ficze F, Mizi A, Wang B, Rink JC. Regeneration in the absence of canonical neoblasts in an early branching flatworm. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.24.595708. [PMID: 38853907 PMCID: PMC11160568 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.24.595708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
The remarkable regenerative abilities of flatworms are closely linked to neoblasts - adult pluripotent stem cells that are the only division-competent cell type outside of the reproductive system. Although the presence of neoblast-like cells and whole-body regeneration in other animals has led to the idea that these features may represent the ancestral metazoan state, the evolutionary origin of both remains unclear. Here we show that the catenulid Stenostomum brevipharyngium, a member of the earliest-branching flatworm lineage, lacks conventional neoblasts despite being capable of whole-body regeneration and asexual reproduction. Using a combination of single-nuclei transcriptomics, in situ gene expression analysis, and functional experiments, we find that cell divisions are not restricted to a single cell type and are associated with multiple fully differentiated somatic tissues. Furthermore, the cohort of germline multipotency genes, which are considered canonical neoblast markers, are not expressed in dividing cells, but in the germline instead, and we experimentally show that they are neither necessary for proliferation nor regeneration. Overall, our results challenge the notion that canonical neoblasts are necessary for flatworm regeneration and open up the possibility that neoblast-like cells may have evolved convergently in different animals, independent of their regenerative capacity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ludwik Gąsiorowski
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Chew Chai
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
| | - Andrei Rozanski
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Gargi Purandare
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Fruzsina Ficze
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Athanasia Mizi
- Institute of Pathology, University Medical Centre Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Bo Wang
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
| | - Jochen C Rink
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
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8
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Doddihal V, Mann FG, Ross EJ, McKinney MC, Guerrero-Hernández C, Brewster CE, McKinney SA, Sánchez Alvarado A. A PAK family kinase and the Hippo/Yorkie pathway modulate WNT signaling to functionally integrate body axes during regeneration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2321919121. [PMID: 38713625 PMCID: PMC11098123 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2321919121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Successful regeneration of missing tissues requires seamless integration of positional information along the body axes. Planarians, which regenerate from almost any injury, use conserved, developmentally important signaling pathways to pattern the body axes. However, the molecular mechanisms which facilitate cross talk between these signaling pathways to integrate positional information remain poorly understood. Here, we report a p21-activated kinase (smed-pak1) which functionally integrates the anterior-posterior (AP) and the medio-lateral (ML) axes. pak1 inhibits WNT/β-catenin signaling along the AP axis and, functions synergistically with the β-catenin-independent WNT signaling of the ML axis. Furthermore, this functional integration is dependent on warts and merlin-the components of the Hippo/Yorkie (YKI) pathway. Hippo/YKI pathway is a critical regulator of body size in flies and mice, but our data suggest the pathway regulates body axes patterning in planarians. Our study provides a signaling network integrating positional information which can mediate coordinated growth and patterning during planarian regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viraj Doddihal
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO64110
| | | | - Eric J. Ross
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO64110
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9
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McCusker P, Clarke NG, Gardiner E, Armstrong R, McCammick EM, McVeigh P, Robb E, Wells D, Nowak-Roddy M, Albaqami A, Mousley A, Coulter JA, Harrington J, Marks NJ, Maule AG. Neoblast-like stem cells of Fasciola hepatica. PLoS Pathog 2024; 20:e1011903. [PMID: 38805551 PMCID: PMC11161113 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011903] [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: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 06/07/2024] [Accepted: 05/06/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024] Open
Abstract
The common liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) causes the disease fasciolosis, which results in considerable losses within the global agri-food industry. There is a shortfall in the drugs that are effective against both the adult and juvenile life stages within the mammalian host, such that new drug targets are needed. Over the last decade the stem cells of parasitic flatworms have emerged as reservoirs of putative novel targets due to their role in development and homeostasis, including at host-parasite interfaces. Here, we investigate and characterise the proliferating cells that underpin development in F. hepatica. We provide evidence that these cells are capable of self-renewal, differentiation, and are sensitive to ionising radiation- all attributes of neoblasts in other flatworms. Changes in cell proliferation were also noted during the early stages of in vitro juvenile growth/development (around four to seven days post excystment), which coincided with a marked reduction in the nuclear area of proliferating cells. Furthermore, we generated transcriptomes from worms following irradiation-based ablation of neoblasts, identifying 124 significantly downregulated transcripts, including known stem cell markers such as fgfrA and plk1. Sixty-eight of these had homologues associated with neoblast-like cells in Schistosoma mansoni. Finally, RNA interference mediated knockdown of histone h2b (a marker of proliferating cells), ablated neoblast-like cells and impaired worm development in vitro. In summary, this work demonstrates that the proliferating cells of F. hepatica are equivalent to neoblasts of other flatworm species and demonstrate that they may serve as attractive targets for novel anthelmintics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul McCusker
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Nathan G. Clarke
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Erica Gardiner
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Rebecca Armstrong
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Erin M. McCammick
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Paul McVeigh
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Emily Robb
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Duncan Wells
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Madelyn Nowak-Roddy
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Abdullah Albaqami
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Angela Mousley
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | | | - John Harrington
- Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, Duluth, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Nikki J. Marks
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Aaron G. Maule
- Understanding Health & Disease, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
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10
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Gern BH, Klas JM, Foster KA, Cohen SB, Plumlee CR, Duffy FJ, Neal ML, Halima M, Gustin AT, Diercks AH, Aderem A, Gale M, Aitchison JD, Gerner MY, Urdahl KB. CD4-mediated immunity shapes neutrophil-driven tuberculous pathology. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.12.589315. [PMID: 38659794 PMCID: PMC11042216 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.12.589315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection results in highly heterogeneous lesions ranging from granulomas with central necrosis to those primarily comprised of alveolitis. While alveolitis has been associated with prior immunity in human post-mortem studies, the drivers of these distinct pathologic outcomes are poorly understood. Here, we show that these divergent lesion structures can be modeled in C3HeB/FeJ mice and are regulated by prior immunity. Using quantitative imaging, scRNAseq, and flow cytometry, we demonstrate that Mtb infection in the absence of prior immunity elicits dysregulated neutrophil recruitment and necrotic granulomas. In contrast, prior immunity induces rapid recruitment and activation of T cells, local macrophage activation, and diminished late neutrophil responses. Depletion studies at distinct infection stages demonstrated that neutrophils are required for early necrosis initiation and necrosis propagation at chronic stages, whereas early CD4 T cell responses prevent neutrophil feedforward circuits and necrosis. Together, these studies reveal fundamental determinants of tuberculosis lesion structure and pathogenesis, which have important implications for new strategies to prevent or treat tuberculosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin H Gern
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- University of Washington, Dept. of Pediatrics, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Josepha M Klas
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Kimberly A Foster
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- University of Washington, Dept. of Immunology, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Sara B Cohen
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Courtney R Plumlee
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Fergal J Duffy
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Maxwell L Neal
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Mehnaz Halima
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Andrew T Gustin
- University of Washington, Dept. of Immunology, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Alan H Diercks
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Alan Aderem
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Michael Gale
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- University of Washington, Dept. of Immunology, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - John D Aitchison
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Michael Y Gerner
- University of Washington, Dept. of Immunology, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Kevin B Urdahl
- Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- University of Washington, Dept. of Pediatrics, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- University of Washington, Dept. of Immunology, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- Lead Contact
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11
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Sun F, Desevin K, Fu Y, Parameswaran S, Mayall J, Rinaldi V, Krietenstein N, Manukyan A, Yin Q, Galan C, Yang CH, Shindyapina AV, Gladyshev VN, Garber M, Schjenken JE, Rando OJ. A single cell atlas of the mouse seminal vesicle. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.08.588538. [PMID: 38645090 PMCID: PMC11030459 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.08.588538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
During mammalian reproduction, sperm are delivered to the female reproductive tract bathed in a complex medium known as seminal fluid, which plays key roles in signaling to the female reproductive tract and in nourishing sperm for their onwards journey. Along with minor contributions from the prostate and the epididymis, the majority of seminal fluid is produced by a somewhat understudied organ known as the seminal vesicle. Here, we report the first single-cell RNA-seq atlas of the mouse seminal vesicle, generated using tissues obtained from 23 mice of varying ages, exposed to a range of dietary challenges. We define the transcriptome of the secretory cells in this tissue, identifying a relatively homogeneous population of the epithelial cells which are responsible for producing the majority of seminal fluid. We also define the immune cell populations - including large populations of macrophages, dendritic cells, T cells, and NKT cells - which have the potential to play roles in producing various immune mediators present in seminal plasma. Together, our data provide a resource for understanding the composition of an understudied reproductive tissue with potential implications for paternal control of offspring development and metabolism.
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12
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Avalos PN, Wong LL, Forsthoefel DJ. Extracellular vesicles promote proliferation in an animal model of regeneration. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.22.586206. [PMID: 38712279 PMCID: PMC11071309 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.22.586206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted nanoparticles composed of a lipid bilayer that carry lipid, protein, and nucleic acid cargo between cells as a mode of intercellular communication. Although EVs can promote tissue repair in mammals, their roles in animals with greater regenerative capacity are not well understood. Planarian flatworms are capable of whole body regeneration due to pluripotent somatic stem cells called neoblasts that proliferate in response to injury. Here, using transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis, and protein content examination, we showed that EVs enriched from the tissues of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea had similar morphology and size as other eukaryotic EVs, and that these EVs carried orthologs of the conserved EV biogenesis regulators ALIX and TSG101. PKH67-labeled EVs were taken up more quickly by S/G2 neoblasts than G1 neoblasts/early progeny and differentiated cells. When injected into living planarians, EVs from regenerating tissue fragments enhanced upregulation of neoblast-associated transcripts. In addition, EV injection increased the number of F-ara-EdU-labelled cells by 49% as compared to buffer injection only. Our findings demonstrate that regenerating planarians produce EVs that promote stem cell proliferation, and suggest the planarian as an amenable in vivo model for the study of EV function during regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priscilla N. Avalos
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Genes and Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - Lily L. Wong
- Genes and Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| | - David J. Forsthoefel
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Genes and Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
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13
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Allikka Parambil S, Li D, Zelko M, Poulet A, van Wolfswinkel J. piRNA generation is associated with the pioneer round of translation in stem cells. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:2590-2608. [PMID: 38142432 PMCID: PMC10954484 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad1212] [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: 04/13/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Much insight has been gained on how stem cells maintain genomic integrity, but less attention has been paid to how they maintain their transcriptome. Here, we report that the PIWI protein SMEDWI-1 plays a role in the filtering of dysfunctional transcripts from the transcriptome of planarian stem cells. SMEDWI-1 accomplishes this through association with the ribosomes during the pioneer round of translation, and processing of poorly translated transcripts into piRNAs. This results in the removal of such transcripts from the cytoplasmic pool and at the same time creates a dynamic pool of small RNAs for post-transcriptional surveillance through the piRNA pathway. Loss of SMEDWI-1 results in elevated levels of several non-coding transcripts, including rRNAs, snRNAs and pseudogene mRNAs, while reducing levels of several coding transcripts. In the absence of SMEDWI-1, stem cell colonies are delayed in their expansion and a higher fraction of descendants exit the stem cell state, indicating that this transcriptomic sanitation mediated by SMEDWI-1 is essential to maintain stem cell health. This study presents a new model for the function of PIWI proteins in stem cell maintenance, that complements their role in transposon repression, and proposes a new biogenesis pathway for piRNAs in stem cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sudheesh Allikka Parambil
- Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Yale Stem Cell Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Center for RNA science and medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven. CT 06511, USA
| | - Danyan Li
- Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Yale Stem Cell Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Center for RNA science and medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven. CT 06511, USA
| | - Michael Zelko
- Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Yale Stem Cell Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Center for RNA science and medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven. CT 06511, USA
| | - Axel Poulet
- Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Yale Stem Cell Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Center for RNA science and medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven. CT 06511, USA
| | - Josien C van Wolfswinkel
- Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Yale Stem Cell Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Center for RNA science and medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven. CT 06511, USA
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14
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Xu Y, Fleming S, Tegtmeyer M, McCarroll SA, Babadi M. Modeling interpretable correspondence between cell state and perturbation response with CellCap. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.14.585078. [PMID: 38558987 PMCID: PMC10979976 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.14.585078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Single-cell transcriptomics, in conjunction with genetic and compound perturbations, offers a robust approach for exploring cellular behaviors in diverse contexts. Such experiments allow uncovering cell-state-specific responses to perturbations, a crucial aspect in unraveling the intricate molecular mechanisms governing cellular behavior and potentially discovering novel regulatory pathways and therapeutic targets. However, prevailing computational methods predominantly focus on predicting average cellular responses, disregarding the inherent response heterogeneity associated with cell state diversity. In this study, we present CellCap, a deep generative model designed for the end-to-end analysis of single-cell perturbation experiments. CellCap employs sparse dictionary learning in a latent space to deconstruct cell-state-specific perturbation responses into a set of transcriptional response programs. These programs are then utilized by each perturbation condition and each cell at varying degrees. The incorporation of specific model design choices, such as dot-product cross-attention between cell states and response programs, along with a linearly-decoded latent space, underlay the interpretation power of CellCap. We evaluate CellCap's model interpretability through multiple simulated scenarios and apply it to two real single-cell perturbation datasets. These datasets feature either heterogeneous cellular populations or a complex experimental setup. Our results demonstrate that CellCap successfully uncovers the relationship between cell state and perturbation response, unveiling novel insights overlooked in previous analyses. The model's interpretability, coupled with its effectiveness in capturing heterogeneous responses, positions CellCap as a valuable tool for advancing our understanding of cellular behaviors in the context of perturbation experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Xu
- Data Sciences Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Stephen Fleming
- Data Sciences Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Matthew Tegtmeyer
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA
- Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
| | - Steven A. McCarroll
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA
| | - Mehrtash Babadi
- Data Sciences Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
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15
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Klaassen H, Tissot S, Meliani J, Boutry J, Miltiadous A, Biro PA, Mitchell DJ, Ujvari B, Schultz A, Thomas F, Dujon AM. Behavioural ecology meets oncology: quantifying the recovery of animal behaviour to a transient exposure to a cancer risk factor. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20232666. [PMID: 38351808 PMCID: PMC10865010 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2666] [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: 11/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Wildlife is increasingly exposed to sublethal transient cancer risk factors, including mutagenic substances, which activates their anti-cancer defences, promotes tumourigenesis, and may negatively impact populations. Little is known about how exposure to cancer risk factors impacts the behaviour of wildlife. Here, we investigated the effects of a sublethal, short-term exposure to a carcinogen at environmentally relevant concentrations on the activity patterns of wild Girardia tigrina planaria during a two-phase experiment, consisting of a 7-day exposure to cadmium period followed by a 7-day recovery period. To comprehensively explore the effects of the exposure on activity patterns, we employed the double hierarchical generalized linear model framework which explicitly models residual intraindividual variability in addition to the mean and variance of the population. We found that exposed planaria were less active compared to unexposed individuals and were able to recover to pre-exposure activity levels albeit with a reduced variance in activity at the start of the recovery phase. Planaria showing high activity levels were less predictable with larger daily activity variations and higher residual variance. Thus, the shift in behavioural variability induced by an exposure to a cancer risk factor can be quantified using advanced tools from the field of behavioural ecology. This is required to understand how tumourous processes affect the ecology of species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiske Klaassen
- Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia
- CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, IRD 224–CNRS 5290–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Sophie Tissot
- CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, IRD 224–CNRS 5290–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Jordan Meliani
- CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, IRD 224–CNRS 5290–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Justine Boutry
- CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, IRD 224–CNRS 5290–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Anna Miltiadous
- Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia
| | - Peter A. Biro
- Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia
- CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, IRD 224–CNRS 5290–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | | | - Beata Ujvari
- Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia
- CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, IRD 224–CNRS 5290–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Aaron Schultz
- Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia
- CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, IRD 224–CNRS 5290–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Frédéric Thomas
- Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia
- CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, IRD 224–CNRS 5290–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Antoine M. Dujon
- Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia
- CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, IRD 224–CNRS 5290–Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
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16
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Basher ARMA, Hallinan C, Lee K. Heterogeneity-Preserving Discriminative Feature Selection for Subtype Discovery. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.14.540686. [PMID: 38187596 PMCID: PMC10769187 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.14.540686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
The discovery of subtypes is pivotal for disease diagnosis and targeted therapy, considering the diverse responses of different cells or patients to specific treatments. Exploring the heterogeneity within disease or cell states provides insights into disease progression mechanisms and cell differentiation. The advent of high-throughput technologies has enabled the generation and analysis of various molecular data types, such as single-cell RNA-seq, proteomic, and imaging datasets, at large scales. While presenting opportunities for subtype discovery, these datasets pose challenges in finding relevant signatures due to their high dimensionality. Feature selection, a crucial step in the analysis pipeline, involves choosing signatures that reduce the feature size for more efficient downstream computational analysis. Numerous existing methods focus on selecting signatures that differentiate known diseases or cell states, yet they often fall short in identifying features that preserve heterogeneity and reveal subtypes. To identify features that can capture the diversity within each class while also maintaining the discrimination of known disease states, we employed deep metric learning-based feature embedding to conduct a detailed exploration of the statistical properties of features essential in preserving heterogeneity. Our analysis revealed that features with a significant difference in interquartile range (IQR) between classes possess crucial subtype information. Guided by this insight, we developed a robust statistical method, termed PHet (Preserving Heterogeneity) that performs iterative subsampling differential analysis of IQR and Fisher's method between classes, identifying a minimal set of heterogeneity-preserving discriminative features to optimize subtype clustering quality. Validation using public single-cell RNA-seq and microarray datasets showcased PHet's effectiveness in preserving sample heterogeneity while maintaining discrimination of known disease/cell states, surpassing the performance of previous outlier-based methods. Furthermore, analysis of a single-cell RNA-seq dataset from mouse tracheal epithelial cells revealed, through PHet-based features, the presence of two distinct basal cell subtypes undergoing differentiation toward a luminal secretory phenotype. Notably, one of these subtypes exhibited high expression of BPIFA1. Interestingly, previous studies have linked BPIFA1 secretion to the emergence of secretory cells during mucociliary differentiation of airway epithelial cells. PHet successfully pinpointed the basal cell subtype associated with this phenomenon, a distinction that pre-annotated markers and dispersion-based features failed to make due to their admixed feature expression profiles. These findings underscore the potential of our method to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms underlying diseases and cell differentiation and contribute significantly to personalized medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdur Rahman M. A. Basher
- Vascular Biology Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Caleb Hallinan
- Vascular Biology Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Kwonmoo Lee
- Vascular Biology Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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17
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Zhu S, Kubota N, Wang S, Wang T, Xiao G, Hoshida Y. Single-cell level deconvolution, convolution, and clustering in spatial transcriptomics by aligning spot level transcriptome to nuclear morphology. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.12.17.572084. [PMID: 38187541 PMCID: PMC10769305 DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.17.572084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
In spot-based spatial transcriptomics, spots that are of the same size and printed at the fixed location cannot precisely capture the actual randomly located single cells, therefore failing to profile the transcriptome at the single-cell level. The current studies primarily focused on enhancing the spot resolution in size via computational imputation or technical improvement, however, they largely overlooked that single-cell resolution, i.e., resolution in cellular or even smaller size, does not equal single-cell level. Using both real and simulated spatial transcriptomics data, we demonstrated that even the high-resolution spatial transcriptomics still has a large number of spots partially covering multiple cells simultaneously, revealing the intrinsic non-single-cell level of spot-based spatial transcriptomics regardless of spot size. To this end, we present STIE, an EM algorithm that aligns the spatial transcriptome to its matched histology image-based nuclear morphology and recovers missing cells from up to ~70% gap area between spots via the nuclear morphological similarity and neighborhood information, thereby achieving the real single-cell level and whole-slide scale deconvolution/convolution and clustering for both low- and high-resolution spots. On both real and simulation spatial transcriptomics data, STIE characterizes the cell-type specific gene expression variation and demonstrates the outperforming concordance with the single-cell RNAseq-derived cell type transcriptomic signatures compared to the other spot- and subspot-level methods. Furthermore, STIE enabled us to gain novel insights that failed to be revealed by the existing methods due to the lack of single-cell level, for instance, lower actual spot resolution than its reported spot size, the additional contribution of cellular morphology to cell typing beyond transcriptome, unbiased evaluation of cell type colocalization, superior power of high-resolution spot in distinguishing nuanced cell types, and spatially resolved cell-cell interactions at the single-cell level other than spot level. The STIE code is publicly available as an R package at https://github.com/zhushijia/STIE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shijia Zhu
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Naoto Kubota
- Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Shidan Wang
- Quantitative Biomedical Research Center, Department of Population and Data Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Tao Wang
- Quantitative Biomedical Research Center, Department of Population and Data Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Guanghua Xiao
- Quantitative Biomedical Research Center, Department of Population and Data Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Yujin Hoshida
- Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
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18
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Hou W, Ji Z. Assessing GPT-4 for cell type annotation in single-cell RNA-seq analysis. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.04.16.537094. [PMID: 37131626 PMCID: PMC10153208 DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.16.537094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Cell type annotation is an essential step in single-cell RNA-seq analysis. However, it is a time-consuming process that often requires expertise in collecting canonical marker genes and manually annotating cell types. Automated cell type annotation methods typically require the acquisition of high-quality reference datasets and the development of additional pipelines. We assessed the performance of GPT-4, a highly potent large language model, for cell type annotation, and demonstrated that it can automatically and accurately annotate cell types by utilizing marker gene information generated from standard single-cell RNA-seq analysis pipelines. Evaluated across hundreds of tissue types and cell types, GPT-4 generates cell type annotations exhibiting strong concordance with manual annotations and has the potential to considerably reduce the effort and expertise needed in cell type annotation. We also developed GPTCelltype, an open-source R software package to facilitate cell type annotation by GPT-4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenpin Hou
- Department of Biostatistics, The Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Zhicheng Ji
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
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19
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Fujita S, Takahashi M, Kumano G, Kuranaga E, Miura M, Nakajima YI. Distinct stem-like cell populations facilitate functional regeneration of the Cladonema medusa tentacle. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002435. [PMID: 38127832 PMCID: PMC10734932 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002435] [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: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Blastema formation is a crucial process that provides a cellular source for regenerating tissues and organs. While bilaterians have diversified blastema formation methods, its mechanisms in non-bilaterians remain poorly understood. Cnidarian jellyfish, or medusae, represent early-branching metazoans that exhibit complex morphology and possess defined appendage structures highlighted by tentacles with stinging cells (nematocytes). Here, we investigate the mechanisms of tentacle regeneration, using the hydrozoan jellyfish Cladonema pacificum. We show that proliferative cells accumulate at the tentacle amputation site and form a blastema composed of cells with stem cell morphology. Nucleoside pulse-chase experiments indicate that most repair-specific proliferative cells (RSPCs) in the blastema are distinct from resident stem cells. We further demonstrate that resident stem cells control nematogenesis and tentacle elongation during both homeostasis and regeneration as homeostatic stem cells, while RSPCs preferentially differentiate into epithelial cells in the newly formed tentacle, analogous to lineage-restricted stem/progenitor cells observed in salamander limbs. Taken together, our findings propose a regeneration mechanism that utilizes both resident homeostatic stem cells (RHSCs) and RSPCs, which in conjunction efficiently enable functional appendage regeneration, and provide novel insight into the diversification of blastema formation across animal evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sosuke Fujita
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Mako Takahashi
- Asamushi Research Center for Marine Biology, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Aomori, Japan
| | - Gaku Kumano
- Asamushi Research Center for Marine Biology, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Aomori, Japan
| | - Erina Kuranaga
- Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Masayuki Miura
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yu-ichiro Nakajima
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
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20
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Vila-Farré M, Rozanski A, Ivanković M, Cleland J, Brand JN, Thalen F, Grohme MA, von Kannen S, Grosbusch AL, Vu HTK, Prieto CE, Carbayo F, Egger B, Bleidorn C, Rasko JEJ, Rink JC. Evolutionary dynamics of whole-body regeneration across planarian flatworms. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:2108-2124. [PMID: 37857891 PMCID: PMC10697840 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02221-7] [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: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
Regenerative abilities vary dramatically across animals. Even amongst planarian flatworms, well-known for complete regeneration from tiny body fragments, some species have restricted regeneration abilities while others are almost entirely regeneration incompetent. Here, we assemble a diverse live collection of 40 planarian species to probe the evolution of head regeneration in the group. Combining quantification of species-specific head-regeneration abilities with a comprehensive transcriptome-based phylogeny reconstruction, we show multiple independent transitions between robust whole-body regeneration and restricted regeneration in freshwater species. RNA-mediated genetic interference inhibition of canonical Wnt signalling in RNA-mediated genetic interference-sensitive species bypassed all head-regeneration defects, suggesting that the Wnt pathway is linked to the emergence of planarian regeneration defects. Our finding that Wnt signalling has multiple roles in the reproductive system of the model species Schmidtea mediterranea raises the possibility that a trade-off between egg-laying, asexual reproduction by fission/regeneration and Wnt signalling drives regenerative trait evolution. Although quantitative comparisons of Wnt signalling levels, yolk content and reproductive strategy across our species collection remained inconclusive, they revealed divergent Wnt signalling roles in the reproductive system of planarians. Altogether, our study establishes planarians as a model taxon for comparative regeneration research and presents a framework for the mechanistic evolution of regenerative abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miquel Vila-Farré
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany.
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany.
| | - Andrei Rozanski
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | - Mario Ivanković
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | - James Cleland
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | - Jeremias N Brand
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Felix Thalen
- Animal Evolution and Biodiversity, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Cardio-CARE, Medizincampus Davos, Davos, Switzerland
| | - Markus A Grohme
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | | | | | - Hanh T-K Vu
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Carlos E Prieto
- Department of Zoology & Animal Cell Biology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain
| | - Fernando Carbayo
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução. Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Bernhard Egger
- Department of Zoology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Christoph Bleidorn
- Animal Evolution and Biodiversity, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - John E J Rasko
- Gene and Stem Cell Therapy Program Centenary Institute, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Cell & Molecular Therapies, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jochen C Rink
- Department of Tissue Dynamics and Regeneration, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, Germany.
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany.
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21
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Lu YR, Tian X, Sinclair DA. The Information Theory of Aging. NATURE AGING 2023; 3:1486-1499. [PMID: 38102202 DOI: 10.1038/s43587-023-00527-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Information storage and retrieval is essential for all life. In biology, information is primarily stored in two distinct ways: the genome, comprising nucleic acids, acts as a foundational blueprint and the epigenome, consisting of chemical modifications to DNA and histone proteins, regulates gene expression patterns and endows cells with specific identities and functions. Unlike the stable, digital nature of genetic information, epigenetic information is stored in a digital-analog format, susceptible to alterations induced by diverse environmental signals and cellular damage. The Information Theory of Aging (ITOA) states that the aging process is driven by the progressive loss of youthful epigenetic information, the retrieval of which via epigenetic reprogramming can improve the function of damaged and aged tissues by catalyzing age reversal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuancheng Ryan Lu
- Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research, Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Xiao Tian
- Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research, Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - David A Sinclair
- Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research, Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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22
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Lei PJ, Ruscic KJ, Roh K, Rajotte JJ, O'Melia MJ, Bouta EM, Marquez M, Pereira ER, Kumar AS, Arroyo-Ataz G, Razavi MS, Zhou H, Menzel L, Kumra H, Duquette M, Huang P, Baish JW, Munn LL, Ubellacker JM, Jones D, Padera TP. Lymphatic muscle cells are unique cells that undergo aging induced changes. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.18.567621. [PMID: 38014141 PMCID: PMC10680808 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.18.567621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Lymphatic muscle cells (LMCs) within the wall of collecting lymphatic vessels exhibit tonic and autonomous phasic contractions, which drive active lymph transport to maintain tissue-fluid homeostasis and support immune surveillance. Damage to LMCs disrupts lymphatic function and is related to various diseases. Despite their importance, knowledge of the transcriptional signatures in LMCs and how they relate to lymphatic function in normal and disease contexts is largely missing. We have generated a comprehensive transcriptional single-cell atlas-including LMCs-of collecting lymphatic vessels in mouse dermis at various ages. We identified genes that distinguish LMCs from other types of muscle cells, characterized the phenotypical and transcriptomic changes in LMCs in aged vessels, and uncovered a pro-inflammatory microenvironment that suppresses the contractile apparatus in advanced-aged LMCs. Our findings provide a valuable resource to accelerate future research for the identification of potential drug targets on LMCs to preserve lymphatic vessel function as well as supporting studies to identify genetic causes of primary lymphedema currently with unknown molecular explanation.
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23
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Seifert AW, Duncan EM, Zayas RM. Enduring questions in regenerative biology and the search for answers. Commun Biol 2023; 6:1139. [PMID: 37945686 PMCID: PMC10636051 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05505-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The potential for basic research to uncover the inner workings of regenerative processes and produce meaningful medical therapies has inspired scientists, clinicians, and patients for hundreds of years. Decades of studies using a handful of highly regenerative model organisms have significantly advanced our knowledge of key cell types and molecular pathways involved in regeneration. However, many questions remain about how regenerative processes unfold in regeneration-competent species, how they are curtailed in non-regenerative organisms, and how they might be induced (or restored) in humans. Recent technological advances in genomics, molecular biology, computer science, bioengineering, and stem cell research hold promise to collectively provide new experimental evidence for how different organisms accomplish the process of regeneration. In theory, this new evidence should inform the design of new clinical approaches for regenerative medicine. A deeper understanding of how tissues and organs regenerate will also undoubtedly impact many adjacent scientific fields. To best apply and adapt these new technologies in ways that break long-standing barriers and answer critical questions about regeneration, we must combine the deep knowledge of developmental and evolutionary biologists with the hard-earned expertise of scientists in mechanistic and technical fields. To this end, this perspective is based on conversations from a workshop we organized at the Banbury Center, during which a diverse cross-section of the regeneration research community and experts in various technologies discussed enduring questions in regenerative biology. Here, we share the questions this group identified as significant and unanswered, i.e., known unknowns. We also describe the obstacles limiting our progress in answering these questions and how expanding the number and diversity of organisms used in regeneration research is essential for deepening our understanding of regenerative capacity. Finally, we propose that investigating these problems collaboratively across a diverse network of researchers has the potential to advance our field and produce unexpected insights into important questions in related areas of biology and medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley W Seifert
- Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA.
| | - Elizabeth M Duncan
- Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA.
| | - Ricardo M Zayas
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA.
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24
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Abstract
Metabolic switches are a crucial hallmark of cellular development and regeneration. In response to changes in their environment or physiological state, cells undergo coordinated metabolic switching that is necessary to execute biosynthetic demands of growth and repair. In this Review, we discuss how metabolic switches represent an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that orchestrates tissue development and regeneration, allowing cells to adapt rapidly to changing conditions during development and postnatally. We further explore the dynamic interplay between metabolism and how it is not only an output, but also a driver of cellular functions, such as cell proliferation and maturation. Finally, we underscore the epigenetic and cellular mechanisms by which metabolic switches mediate biosynthetic needs during development and regeneration, and how understanding these mechanisms is important for advancing our knowledge of tissue development and devising new strategies to promote tissue regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmed I. Mahmoud
- Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705, USA
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25
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Li Z, Zhuang X, Pan CH, Yan Y, Thummalapalli R, Hallin J, Torborg S, Singhal A, Chang JC, Manchado E, Dow LE, Yaeger R, Christensen JG, Lowe SW, Rudin CM, Joost S, Tammela T. Alveolar differentiation drives resistance to KRAS inhibition in lung adenocarcinoma. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.29.560194. [PMID: 37808711 PMCID: PMC10557782 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.29.560194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), commonly driven by KRAS mutations, is responsible for 7% of all cancer mortality. The first allele-specific KRAS inhibitors were recently approved in LUAD, but clinical benefit is limited by intrinsic and acquired resistance. LUAD predominantly arises from alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells, which function as facultative alveolar stem cells by self-renewing and replacing alveolar type 1 (AT1) cells. Using genetically engineered mouse models, patient-derived xenografts, and patient samples we found inhibition of KRAS promotes transition to a quiescent AT1-like cancer cell state in LUAD tumors. Similarly, suppressing Kras induced AT1 differentiation of wild-type AT2 cells upon lung injury. The AT1-like LUAD cells exhibited high growth and differentiation potential upon treatment cessation, whereas ablation of the AT1-like cells robustly improved treatment response to KRAS inhibitors. Our results uncover an unexpected role for KRAS in promoting intra-tumoral heterogeneity and suggest targeting alveolar differentiation may augment KRAS-targeted therapies in LUAD. Significance Treatment resistance limits response to KRAS inhibitors in LUAD patients. We find LUAD residual disease following KRAS targeting is composed of AT1-like cancer cells with the capacity to reignite tumorigenesis. Targeting the AT1-like cells augments responses to KRAS inhibition, elucidating a therapeutic strategy to overcome resistance to KRAS-targeted therapy.
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26
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Akheralie Z, Scidmore TJ, Pearson BJ. aristaless-like homeobox-3 is wound induced and promotes a low-Wnt environment required for planarian head regeneration. Development 2023; 150:dev201777. [PMID: 37681295 PMCID: PMC10560571 DOI: 10.1242/dev.201777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023]
Abstract
The planarian Schmidtea mediterranea is a well-established model of adult regeneration, which is dependent on a large population of adult stem cells called neoblasts. Upon amputation, planarians undergo transcriptional wounding programs and coordinated stem cell proliferation to give rise to missing tissues. Interestingly, the Wnt signaling pathway is key to guiding what tissues are regenerated, yet less known are the transcriptional regulators that ensure proper activation and timing of signaling pathway components. Here, we have identified an aristaless-like homeobox transcription factor, alx-3, that is enriched in a population of putative neural-fated progenitor cells at homeostasis, and is also upregulated in stem cells and muscle cells at anterior-facing wounds upon amputation. Knockdown of alx-3 results in failure of head regeneration and patterning defects in amputated tail fragments. alx-3 is required for the expression of several early wound-induced genes, including the Wnt inhibitor notum, which is required to establish anterior polarity during regeneration. Together, these findings reveal a role for alx-3 as an early wound-response transcriptional regulator in both muscle cells and stem cells that is required for anterior regeneration by promoting a low-Wnt environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zaleena Akheralie
- The Hospital for Sick Children, Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Toronto, ON M5G0A4, Canada
- University of Toronto, Department of Molecular Genetics, Toronto, ON M5S1A8, Canada
| | - Tanner J. Scidmore
- The Hospital for Sick Children, Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Toronto, ON M5G0A4, Canada
- University of Toronto, Department of Molecular Genetics, Toronto, ON M5S1A8, Canada
| | - Bret J. Pearson
- The Hospital for Sick Children, Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Toronto, ON M5G0A4, Canada
- University of Toronto, Department of Molecular Genetics, Toronto, ON M5S1A8, Canada
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27
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Tajer B, Savage AM, Whited JL. The salamander blastema within the broader context of metazoan regeneration. Front Cell Dev Biol 2023; 11:1206157. [PMID: 37635872 PMCID: PMC10450636 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1206157] [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: 04/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Throughout the animal kingdom regenerative ability varies greatly from species to species, and even tissue to tissue within the same organism. The sheer diversity of structures and mechanisms renders a thorough comparison of molecular processes truly daunting. Are "blastemas" found in organisms as distantly related as planarians and axolotls derived from the same ancestral process, or did they arise convergently and independently? Is a mouse digit tip blastema orthologous to a salamander limb blastema? In other fields, the thorough characterization of a reference model has greatly facilitated these comparisons. For example, the amphibian Spemann-Mangold organizer has served as an amazingly useful comparative template within the field of developmental biology, allowing researchers to draw analogies between distantly related species, and developmental processes which are superficially quite different. The salamander limb blastema may serve as the best starting point for a comparative analysis of regeneration, as it has been characterized by over 200 years of research and is supported by a growing arsenal of molecular tools. The anatomical and evolutionary closeness of the salamander and human limb also add value from a translational and therapeutic standpoint. Tracing the evolutionary origins of the salamander blastema, and its relatedness to other regenerative processes throughout the animal kingdom, will both enhance our basic biological understanding of regeneration and inform our selection of regenerative model systems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jessica L. Whited
- Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
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28
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Yang L, Ng YE, Sun H, Li Y, Chini LCS, LeBrasseur NK, Chen J, Zhang X. Single-cell Mayo Map ( scMayoMap ): an easy-to-use tool for cell type annotation in single-cell RNA-sequencing data analysis. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.03.538463. [PMID: 37205463 PMCID: PMC10187171 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.03.538463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) has become a widely used tool for both basic and translational biomedical research. In scRNA-seq data analysis, cell type annotation is an essential but challenging step. In the past few years, several annotation tools have been developed. These methods require either labeled training/reference datasets, which are not always available, or a list of predefined cell subset markers, which are subject to biases. Thus, a user-friendly and precise annotation tool is still critically needed. We curated a comprehensive cell marker database named scMayoMapDatabase and developed a companion R package scMayoMap , an easy-to-use single cell annotation tool, to provide fast and accurate cell type annotation. The effectiveness of scMayoMap was demonstrated in 48 independent scRNA-seq datasets across different platforms and tissues. scMayoMap performs better than the currently available annotation tools on all the datasets tested. Additionally, the scMayoMapDatabase can be integrated with other tools and further improve their performance. scMayoMap and scMayoMapDatabase will help investigators to define the cell types in their scRNA-seq data in a streamlined and user-friendly way.
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29
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Zhang S, Li X, Lin J, Lin Q, Wong KC. Review of single-cell RNA-seq data clustering for cell-type identification and characterization. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2023; 29:517-530. [PMID: 36737104 PMCID: PMC10158997 DOI: 10.1261/rna.078965.121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
In recent years, the advances in single-cell RNA-seq techniques have enabled us to perform large-scale transcriptomic profiling at single-cell resolution in a high-throughput manner. Unsupervised learning such as data clustering has become the central component to identify and characterize novel cell types and gene expression patterns. In this study, we review the existing single-cell RNA-seq data clustering methods with critical insights into the related advantages and limitations. In addition, we also review the upstream single-cell RNA-seq data processing techniques such as quality control, normalization, and dimension reduction. We conduct performance comparison experiments to evaluate several popular single-cell RNA-seq clustering approaches on simulated and multiple single-cell transcriptomic data sets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shixiong Zhang
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China
- Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Xiangtao Li
- School of Artificial Intelligence, Jilin University, Jilin 130012, China
| | - Jiecong Lin
- Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Qiuzhen Lin
- College of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Ka-Chun Wong
- Department of Computer Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
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30
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Cui G, Zhou JY, Ge XY, Sun BF, Song GG, Wang X, Wang XZ, Zhang R, Wang HL, Jing Q, Koziol MJ, Zhao YL, Zeng A, Zhang WQ, Han DL, Yang YG, Yang Y. m 6 A promotes planarian regeneration. Cell Prolif 2023; 56:e13481. [PMID: 37084418 DOI: 10.1111/cpr.13481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2023] [Revised: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Regeneration is the regrowth of damaged tissues or organs, a vital process in response to damages from primitive organisms to higher mammals. Planarian possesses active whole-body regenerative capability owing to its vast reservoir of adult stem cells, neoblasts, providing an ideal model to delineate the underlying mechanisms for regeneration. RNA N6 -methyladenosine (m6 A) modification participates in many biological processes, including stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, in particular the regeneration of haematopoietic stem cells and axons. However, how m6 A controls regeneration at the whole-organism level remains largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the depletion of m6 A methyltransferase regulatory subunit wtap abolishes planarian regeneration, potentially through regulating genes related to cell-cell communication and cell cycle. Single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) analysis unveils that the wtap knockdown induces a unique type of neural progenitor-like cells (NP-like cells), characterized by specific expression of the cell-cell communication ligand grn. Intriguingly, the depletion of m6 A-modified transcripts grn, cdk9 or cdk7 partially rescues the defective regeneration of planarian caused by wtap knockdown. Overall, our study reveals an indispensable role of m6 A modification in regulating whole-organism regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guanshen Cui
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Stem Cell and Regeneration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jia-Yi Zhou
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
| | - Xin-Yang Ge
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Bao-Fa Sun
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
| | - Ge-Ge Song
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
| | - Xing Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
| | - Xiu-Zhi Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Rui Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hai-Lin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Qing Jing
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine & CAS Key Laboratory of Tissue Microenvironment and Tumor, Shanghai, Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Magdalena J Koziol
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research (Beijing), Research Unit of Medical Neurobiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yong-Liang Zhao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
| | - An Zeng
- The State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Wei-Qi Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
| | - Da-Li Han
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yun-Gui Yang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Stem Cell and Regeneration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ying Yang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Stem Cell and Regeneration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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31
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Tsarkova E, Filippova K, Afanasyeva V, Ermakova O, Kolotova A, Blagodatski A, Ermakov A. A Study on the Planarian Model Confirms the Antioxidant Properties of Tameron against X-ray- and Menadione-Induced Oxidative Stress. Antioxidants (Basel) 2023; 12:antiox12040953. [PMID: 37107327 PMCID: PMC10136237 DOI: 10.3390/antiox12040953] [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: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 04/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Ionizing radiation and radiation-related oxidative stress are two important factors responsible for the death of actively proliferating cells, thus drastically reducing the regeneration capacity of living organisms. Planarian flatworms are freshwater invertebrates that are rich in stem cells called neoblasts and, therefore, present a well-established model for studies on regeneration and the testing of novel antioxidant and radioprotective substances. In this work, we tested an antiviral and antioxidant drug Tameron (Monosodium α-Luminol or 5-amino-2,3-dihydro-1,4-phthalazinedione sodium salt) for its ability to reduce the harm of X-ray- and chemically induced oxidative stress on a planarian model. Our study has revealed the ability of Tameron to effectively protect planarians from oxidative stress while enhancing their regenerative capacity by modulating the expression of neoblast marker genes and NRF-2-controlled oxidative stress response genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Tsarkova
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia
- ANO Engineering Physics Institute, Bolshoi Udarny Pereulok, 142210 Serpukhov, Moscow Region, Russia
| | - Kristina Filippova
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia
- ANO Engineering Physics Institute, Bolshoi Udarny Pereulok, 142210 Serpukhov, Moscow Region, Russia
| | - Vera Afanasyeva
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia
- ANO Engineering Physics Institute, Bolshoi Udarny Pereulok, 142210 Serpukhov, Moscow Region, Russia
| | - Olga Ermakova
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia
- ANO Engineering Physics Institute, Bolshoi Udarny Pereulok, 142210 Serpukhov, Moscow Region, Russia
| | - Anastasia Kolotova
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia
| | - Artem Blagodatski
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia
| | - Artem Ermakov
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia
- ANO Engineering Physics Institute, Bolshoi Udarny Pereulok, 142210 Serpukhov, Moscow Region, Russia
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32
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McClain ML, Nowotarski SH. Serial block-face scanning electron microscopy of Schmidtea mediterranea. Methods Cell Biol 2023; 177:213-240. [PMID: 37451768 DOI: 10.1016/bs.mcb.2023.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/27/2023]
Abstract
The flatworm planarian, Schmidtea mediterranea (Smed) is a master at regenerating and rebuilding whole animals from fragments. A full understanding of Smed's regenerative capabilities requires a high-resolution characterization of organs, tissues, and the adult stem cells necessary for regeneration in their native environment. Here, we describe a serial block face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) protocol, optimized for Smed specifically, for visualizing the ultrastructure of membranes and condensed chromosomes in this model organism.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stephanie H Nowotarski
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO, United States; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, United States.
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33
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Rabiasz A, Ziętkiewicz E. Schmidtea mediterranea as a Model Organism to Study the Molecular Background of Human Motile Ciliopathies. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24054472. [PMID: 36901899 PMCID: PMC10002865 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24054472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Cilia and flagella are evolutionarily conserved organelles that form protrusions on the surface of many growth-arrested or differentiated eukaryotic cells. Due to the structural and functional differences, cilia can be roughly classified as motile and non-motile (primary). Genetically determined dysfunction of motile cilia is the basis of primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), a heterogeneous ciliopathy affecting respiratory airways, fertility, and laterality. In the face of the still incomplete knowledge of PCD genetics and phenotype-genotype relations in PCD and the spectrum of PCD-like diseases, a continuous search for new causative genes is required. The use of model organisms has been a great part of the advances in understanding molecular mechanisms and the genetic basis of human diseases; the PCD spectrum is not different in this respect. The planarian model (Schmidtea mediterranea) has been intensely used to study regeneration processes, and-in the context of cilia-their evolution, assembly, and role in cell signaling. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the use of this simple and accessible model for studying the genetics of PCD and related diseases. The recent rapid development of the available planarian databases with detailed genomic and functional annotations prompted us to review the potential of the S. mediterranea model for studying human motile ciliopathies.
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34
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Lei K, Zhang W, Chen J, McKinney SA, Ross EJ, Lee HC, Sánchez Alvarado A. Pluripotency retention and exogenous mRNA introduction in planarian stem cells in culture. iScience 2023; 26:106001. [PMID: 36866042 PMCID: PMC9971864 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2022] [Revised: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 01/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Planarians possess naturally occurring pluripotent adult somatic stem cells (neoblasts) required for homeostasis and whole-body regeneration. However, no reliable neoblast culture methods are currently available, hindering mechanistic studies of pluripotency and the development of transgenic tools. We report robust methods for neoblast culture and delivery of exogenous mRNAs. We identify optimal culture media for the short-term maintenance of neoblasts in vitro and show via transplantation that cultured stem cells retain pluripotency for two days. We developed a procedure that significantly improves neoblast yield and purity by modifying standard flow cytometry methods. These methods enable the introduction and expression of exogenous mRNAs in neoblasts, overcoming a key hurdle impeding the application of transgenics in planarians. The advances in cell culture reported here create new opportunities for mechanistic studies of planarian adult stem cell pluripotency, and provide a systematic framework to develop cell culture techniques in other emerging research organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai Lei
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Key Laboratory of Growth Regulation and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
- Institute of Biology, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
| | - Wenya Zhang
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Key Laboratory of Growth Regulation and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
- Institute of Biology, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
| | - Jiajia Chen
- Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Key Laboratory of Growth Regulation and Translational Research of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
- Institute of Biology, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China
| | - Sean A. McKinney
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Eric J. Ross
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
| | - Heng-Chi Lee
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
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35
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Wang S, Sun Y, Liu X, Guo Y, Huang Y, Zhang S, Tian Q. Meis1 Controls the Differentiation of Eye Progenitor Cells and the Formation of Posterior Poles during Planarian Regeneration. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24043505. [PMID: 36834910 PMCID: PMC9961902 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24043505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 01/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023] Open
Abstract
As a member of TALE family, Meis1 has been proven to regulate cell proliferation and differentiation during cell fate commitment; however, the mechanism is still not fully understood. The planarian, which has an abundance of stem cells (neoblasts) responsible for regenerating any organ after injury, is an ideal model for studying the mechanisms of tissue identity determination. Here, we characterized a planarian homolog of Meis1 from the planarian Dugesia japonica. Importantly, we found that knockdown of DjMeis1 inhibits the differentiation of neoblasts into eye progenitor cells and results in an eyeless phenotype with normal central nervous system. Furthermore, we observed that DjMeis1 is required for the activation of Wnt signaling pathway by promoting the Djwnt1 expression during posterior regeneration. The silencing of DjMeis1 suppresses the expression of Djwnt1 and results in the inability to reconstruct posterior poles. In general, our findings indicated that DjMeis1 acts as a trigger for the activation of eye and tail regeneration by regulating the differentiation of eye progenitor cells and the formation of posterior poles, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaocong Wang
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Yujia Sun
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Xiaomai Liu
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Yajun Guo
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Yongding Huang
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
| | - Shoutao Zhang
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
- Longhu Laboratory of Advanced Immunology, Zhengzhou 450046, China
- Correspondence: (S.Z.); (Q.T.)
| | - Qingnan Tian
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
- Correspondence: (S.Z.); (Q.T.)
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Djck1α Is Required for Proper Regeneration and Maintenance of the Medial Tissues in Planarians. Cells 2023; 12:cells12030473. [PMID: 36766815 PMCID: PMC9913719 DOI: 10.3390/cells12030473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Revised: 01/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
CK1α (Casein kinase 1α) is a member of the casein kinase 1(CK1) family that is involved in diverse cellular processes, but its functions remain unclear in stem cell development. Freshwater planarians are capable of whole-body regeneration, making it a classic model for the study of regeneration, tissue homeostasis, and polarity in vivo. To investigate the roles of CK1α in regeneration and homeostasis progress, we characterize a homolog of CK1α from planarian Dugesia japonica. We find that Djck1α, which shows an enriched expression pattern in the nascent tissues, is widely expressed especially in the medial regions of planarians. Knockdown of CK1α by RNAi presents a thicker body due to dorsal hyperplasia, along with defects in the medial tissues including nerve proliferation, missing epidermis, intestine disturbance, and hyper-proliferation during the progression of regeneration and homeostasis. Moreover, we find that the ck1α RNAi animals exhibit expansion of the midline marker slit. The eye deficiency induced by slit RNAi can be rescued by ck1α and slit double RNAi. These results suggest that ck1α is required for the medial tissue regeneration and maintenance in planarian Dugesia japonica by regulating the expression of slit, which helps to further investigate the regulation of planarian mediolateral axis.
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Tian T, Zhong C, Lin X, Wei Z, Hakonarson H. Complex hierarchical structures in single-cell genomics data unveiled by deep hyperbolic manifold learning. Genome Res 2023; 33:232-246. [PMID: 36849204 PMCID: PMC10069463 DOI: 10.1101/gr.277068.122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/01/2023]
Abstract
With the advances in single-cell sequencing techniques, numerous analytical methods have been developed for delineating cell development. However, most are based on Euclidean space, which would distort the complex hierarchical structure of cell differentiation. Recently, methods acting on hyperbolic space have been proposed to visualize hierarchical structures in single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) data and have been proven to be superior to methods acting on Euclidean space. However, these methods have fundamental limitations and are not optimized for the highly sparse single-cell count data. To address these limitations, we propose scDHMap, a model-based deep learning approach to visualize the complex hierarchical structures of scRNA-seq data in low-dimensional hyperbolic space. The evaluations on extensive simulation and real experiments show that scDHMap outperforms existing dimensionality-reduction methods in various common analytical tasks as needed for scRNA-seq data, including revealing trajectory branches, batch correction, and denoising the count matrix with high dropout rates. In addition, we extend scDHMap to visualize single-cell ATAC-seq data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tian Tian
- Center for Applied Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
| | - Cheng Zhong
- Department of Computer Science, Ying Wu College of Computing, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey 07102, USA
| | - Xiang Lin
- Department of Computer Science, Ying Wu College of Computing, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey 07102, USA
| | - Zhi Wei
- Department of Computer Science, Ying Wu College of Computing, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey 07102, USA;
| | - Hakon Hakonarson
- Center for Applied Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.,Division of Human Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, The Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
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Zhang J, Singh R. Investigating the Complexity of Gene Co-expression Estimation for Single-cell Data. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.01.24.525447. [PMID: 36747724 PMCID: PMC9900775 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.24.525447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
With the rapid advance of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology, understanding biological processes at a more refined single-cell level is becoming possible. Gene co-expression estimation is an essential step in this direction. It can annotate functionalities of unknown genes or construct the basis of gene regulatory network inference. This study thoroughly tests the existing gene co-expression estimation methods on simulation datasets with known ground truth co-expression networks. We generate these novel datasets using two simulation processes that use the parameters learned from the experimental data. We demonstrate that these simulations better capture the underlying properties of the real-world single-cell datasets than previously tested simulations for the task. Our performance results on tens of simulated and eight experimental datasets show that all methods produce estimations with a high false discovery rate potentially caused by high-sparsity levels in the data. Finally, we find that commonly used pre-processing approaches, such as normalization and imputation, do not improve the co-expression estimation. Overall, our benchmark setup contributes to the co-expression estimator development, and our study provides valuable insights for the community of single-cell data analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaqi Zhang
- Department of Computer Science, Brown University
| | - Ritambhara Singh
- Department of Computer Science, Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University
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Liu X, Sun Y, Wang S, Zhang S, Tian Q. Actin restricts cell proliferation and promotes differentiation during planarian regeneration. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2023; 640:150-156. [PMID: 36508928 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2022.12.008] [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: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 12/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Actin is an integral component of the cytoskeleton, which plays an important role in various fundamental cellular processes, such as affecting the polarity of embryonic cells during embryonic development in various model organisms. Meanwhile, previous studies have demonstrated that the polymerization of the actin cytoskeleton can affect cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation. Actin polymerization state regulated osteogenic differentiation and affected cell proliferation. However, the function of actin in regenerative biology has not been thoroughly elucidated. The planarian flatworm, which contains a large number of adult somatic stem cells (neoblasts), is an ideal model organism to study regenerative biology. Here, we identified a homolog of actin in planarian Dugesia japonica and found that RNAi targeting actin during planarian regeneration results in the formation of protrusions on the dorsal side, where the division of phospho-H3 mitotic cells is increased. In addition, a decrease in differentiation is observed in regenerating tissues after Djactin RNAi. These results indicate that Djactin functions in proliferation and differentiation control in planarian regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaomai Liu
- School of LifeSciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Yujia Sun
- School of LifeSciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Shaocong Wang
- School of LifeSciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
| | - Shoutao Zhang
- School of LifeSciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China; Longhu Laboratory of Advanced Immunology, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
| | - Qingnan Tian
- School of LifeSciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
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Clark EG, Petersen CP. BMP suppresses WNT to integrate patterning of orthogonal body axes in adult planarians. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.01.10.523528. [PMID: 36711474 PMCID: PMC9882038 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.10.523528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Adult regeneration restores patterning of orthogonal body axes after damage in a post-embryonic context. Planarians regenerate using distinct body-wide signals primarily regulating each axis dimension: anteroposterior Wnts, dorsoventral BMP, and mediolateral Wnt5 and Slit determinants. How regeneration can consistently form perpendicular tissue axes without symmetry-breaking embryonic events is unknown, and could either occur using fully independent, or alternatively, integrated signals defining each dimension. Here, we report that the planarian dorsoventral regulator bmp4 suppresses the posterior determinant wnt1 to pattern the anteroposterior axis. Double-FISH identified distinct anteroposterior domains within dorsal midline muscle that express either bmp4 or wnt1 . Homeostatic inhibition bmp4 and smad1 expanded the wnt1 expression anteriorly, while elevation of BMP signaling through nog1;nog2 RNAi reduced the wnt1 expression domain. BMP signal perturbation broadly affected anteroposterior identity as measured by expression of posterior Wnt pathway factors, without affecting head regionalization. Therefore, dorsal BMP signals broadly limit posterior identity. Furthermore, bmp4 RNAi caused medial expansion of the lateral determinant wnt5 and reduced expression of the medial regulator slit . Double RNAi of bmp4 and wnt5 resulted in lateral ectopic eye phenotypes, suggesting bmp4 acts upstream of wnt5 to pattern the mediolateral axis. Therefore, bmp4 acts at the top of a patterning hierarchy both to control dorsoventral information and also, through suppression of Wnt signals, to regulate anteroposterior and mediolateral identity. These results reveal that adult pattern formation involves integration of signals controlling individual orthogonal axes. Author Summary Systems that coordinate long-range communication across axes are likely critical for enabling tissue restoration in regenerative animals. While individual axis pathways have been identified, there is not yet an understanding of how signal integration allows repatterning across 3-dimensions. Here, we report an unanticipated linkage between anteroposterior, dorsoventral, and mediolateral systems in planarians through BMP signaling. We find that dorsally expressed BMP restricts posterior and lateral identity by suppressing distinct Wnt signals in adult planarians. These results demonstrate that orthogonal axis information is not fully independent and suggest a potentially ancient role of integrated axis patterning in generating stable 3-dimensional adult forms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor G. Clark
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University; Evanston IL 60208
| | - Christian P. Petersen
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University; Evanston IL 60208
- Robert Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University; Evanston IL 60208
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Petersen CP. Wnt signaling in whole-body regeneration. Curr Top Dev Biol 2023; 153:347-380. [PMID: 36967200 DOI: 10.1016/bs.ctdb.2023.01.007] [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] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
Abstract
Regeneration abilities are widespread among animals and select species can restore any body parts removed by wounds that sever the major body axes. This capability of whole-body regeneration as exemplified in flatworm planarians, Acoels, and Cnidarians involves initial responses to injury, the assessment of wound site polarization, determination of missing tissue and programming of blastema fate, and patterned outgrowth to restore axis content and proportionality. Wnt signaling drives many shared and conserved aspects of the biology of whole-body regeneration in the planarian species Schmidtea mediterranea and Dugesia japonica, in the Acoel Hofstenia miamia, and in Cnidarians Hydra and Nematostella. These overlapping mechanisms suggest whole-body regeneration might be an ancestral property across diverse animal taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian P Petersen
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States; Robert Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States.
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42
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HYPOTHESIS: Do LRIG Proteins Regulate Stem Cell Quiescence by Promoting BMP Signaling? Stem Cell Rev Rep 2023; 19:59-66. [PMID: 35969315 PMCID: PMC9823064 DOI: 10.1007/s12015-022-10442-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains (LRIG) proteins are evolutionarily conserved integral membrane proteins. Mammalian LRIG1 regulates stem cell quiescence in various tissue compartments, including compartments in the epidermis, oral mucosa, intestines, neural system, and incisors. The planarian LRIG1 homolog regulates the quiescence of multipotent neoblasts. The mechanism through which LRIG proteins regulate stem cell quiescence has not been well documented, although it is generally assumed that LRIG1 regulates the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or other receptor tyrosine kinases. However, Lrig-null (Lrig1-/-;Lrig2-/-; and Lrig3-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) have been recently found to exhibit apparently normal receptor tyrosine kinase functions. Moreover, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling has been shown to depend on LRIG1 and LRIG3 expression. BMPs are well-known regulators of stem cell quiescence. Here, we hypothesize that LRIG1 might regulate stem cell quiescence by promoting BMP signaling. HYPOTHESIS: Based on recent findings, it is hypothesized that LRIG1 regulates stem cell quiescence in mammalian tissues as well as in planarian neoblasts by promoting BMP signaling.
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43
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Font-Martín D, Pascual-Carreras E, Saló E. Combining Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization with Immunofluorescence and Lectin Staining in Planarians. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2680:67-79. [PMID: 37428371 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3275-8_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/11/2023]
Abstract
The capability to simultaneously apply different molecular tools to visualize a wide variety of changes in genetic expression and tissue composition in Schmidtea mediterranea has always been of great interest. The most commonly used techniques are fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunofluorescence (IF) detection. Here, we describe a novel way to perform both protocols together adding the possibility to combine them with fluorescent-conjugated lectin staining to further broaden the detection of tissues. We also present a novel lectin fixation protocol to enhance the signal, which could be useful when single-cell resolution is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Font-Martín
- Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
- Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
| | - Eudald Pascual-Carreras
- Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
- Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
| | - Emili Saló
- Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain.
- Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain.
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44
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Gittin DI, Petersen CP. A Wnt11 and Dishevelled signaling pathway acts prior to injury to control wound polarization for the onset of planarian regeneration. Curr Biol 2022; 32:5262-5273.e2. [PMID: 36495871 PMCID: PMC9901562 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Regeneration is initiated by wounding, but it is unclear how injury-induced signals precisely convey the identity of the tissues requiring replacement. In the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea, the first event in head regeneration is the asymmetric activation of the Wnt inhibitor notum in longitudinal body-wall muscle cells, preferentially at anterior-facing versus posterior-facing wound sites. However, the mechanism driving this early symmetry-breaking event is unknown. We identify a noncanonical Wnt11 and Dishevelled pathway regulating notum polarization, which opposes injury-induced notum-activating Wnt/β-catenin signals and regulates muscle orientation. Using expression analysis and experiments to define a critical time of action, we demonstrate that Wnt11 and Dishevelled signals act prior to injury and in a growth-dependent manner to orient the polarization of notum induced by wounding. In turn, injury-induced notum dictates polarization used in the next round of regeneration. These results identify a self-reinforcing feedback system driving the polarization of blastema outgrowth and indicate that regeneration uses pre-existing tissue information to determine the outcome of wound-induced signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- David I Gittin
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Christian P Petersen
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Robert Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
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45
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Zhu M, Bai L, Liu X, Peng S, Xie Y, Bai H, Yu H, Wang X, Yuan P, Ma R, Lin J, Wu L, Huang M, Li Y, Luo Y. Silence of a dependence receptor CSF1R in colorectal cancer cells activates tumor-associated macrophages. J Immunother Cancer 2022; 10:jitc-2022-005610. [PMID: 36600555 PMCID: PMC9730427 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2022-005610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R), a classic tyrosine kinase receptor, has been identified as a proto-oncogene in multiple cancers. The CSF1/CSF1R axis is essential for the survival and differentiation of M2-phenotype tumor-associated macrophages (M2 TAMs). However, we found here that the CSF1R expression was abnormally down-regulated in colorectal cancer (CRC), and its biological functions and underlying mechanisms have become elusive in CRC progression. METHODS The expression of class III receptor tyrosine kinases in CRC and normal intestinal mucosa was accessed using The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus datasets and was further validated by our tested cohort. CSF1R was reconstructed in CRC cells to identify its biological functions in vitro and in vivo. We compared CSF1R expression and methylation differences between CRC cells and macrophages. Furthermore, a co-culture system was used to mimic a competitive mechanism between CSF1R-overexpressed CRC cells and M2-like macrophages. We utilized a CSF1R inhibitor PLX3397 to ablate M2 TAMs and evaluated its efficacy on CRC treatment in animal models. RESULTS We found here that the CSF1R is silenced in CRC, and the reintroduced expression of the receptor in CRC cells can be cleaved by caspases and constrain tumor growth in vitro and in vivo, functioning as a tumor suppressor gene. We further identified CSF1R as a novel dependence receptor, which has the potential to act as either a tumor suppressor gene or an oncogene, depending on its activated state. In CRC tumors, CSF1R expression is enriched in TAMs, and its expression is associated with poor prognosis in patients ith CRC. In a co-culture system, CRC cells expressing CSF1R compete with M2-like macrophages for CSF1R ligands, resulting in a decrease in CSF1R activation and cell proliferation in macrophages. Blocking CSF1R by PLX3397 could deplete M2 TAMs and augments CD8+ T cell infiltration, effectively inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis and improving responses to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. CONCLUSION Our findings revealed that CSF1R is a novel identified dependence receptor silenced in CRC. The silence abalienates its ligands to stimulate CSF1R expressed on M2 TAMs, which is an appealing therapeutic target for M2 TAM depletion and CRC treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingxuan Zhu
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Liangliang Bai
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Xiaoxia Liu
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Shaoyong Peng
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Yumo Xie
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Hong Bai
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Department of Colorectal Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Huichuan Yu
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Xiaolin Wang
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Ping Yuan
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Rui Ma
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Jinxin Lin
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Department of Colorectal Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Linping Wu
- Center for Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Meijin Huang
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Department of Colorectal Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Yingjie Li
- Center for Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Yanxin Luo
- Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Disease, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China,Department of Colorectal Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
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Grosbusch AL, Bertemes P, Kauffmann B, Gotsis C, Egger B. Do Not Lose Your Head Over the Unequal Regeneration Capacity in Prolecithophoran Flatworms. BIOLOGY 2022; 11:1588. [PMID: 36358289 PMCID: PMC9687166 DOI: 10.3390/biology11111588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Revised: 10/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
One of the central questions in studying the evolution of regeneration in flatworms remains whether the ancestral flatworm was able to regenerate all body parts, including the head. If so, this ability was subsequently lost in most existent flatworms. The alternative hypothesis is that head regeneration has evolved within flatworms, possibly several times independently. In the well-studied flatworm taxon Tricladida (planarians), most species are able to regenerate a head. Little is known about the regeneration capacity of the closest relatives of Tricladida: Fecampiida and Prolecithophora. Here, we analysed the regeneration capacity of three prolecithophoran families: Pseudostomidae, Plagiostomidae, and Protomonotresidae. The regeneration capacity of prolecithophorans varies considerably between families, which is likely related to the remaining body size of the regenerates. While all studied prolecithophoran species were able to regenerate a tail-shaped posterior end, only some Pseudostomidae could regenerate a part of the pharynx and pharynx pouch. Some Plagiostomidae could regenerate a head including the brain and eyes, provided the roots of the brain were present. The broad spectrum of regeneration capacity in Prolecithophora suggests that head regeneration capacity is not an apomorphy of Adiaphanida.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Bernhard Egger
- Institute of Zoology, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
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Reho G, Lelièvre V, Cadiou H. Planarian nociception: Lessons from a scrunching flatworm. Front Mol Neurosci 2022; 15:935918. [PMID: 35959107 PMCID: PMC9362985 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2022.935918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In addition to being studied for their exceptional regeneration abilities, planarians (i.e., flatworms) have also been extensively used in the context of pharmacological experiments during the past century. Many researchers used planarians as a model system for the study of drug abuse because they display high similarities with the nervous system of vertebrates at cellular and molecular levels (e.g., neuronal morphology, neurotransmitter ligands, and receptor function). This research field recently led to the discovery of causal relationships between the expression of Transient Receptor Potential ion channels in planarians and their behavioral responses to noxious stimuli such as heat, cold or pharmacological analogs such as TRP agonists, among others. It has also been shown that some antinociceptive drugs modulate these behaviors. However, among the few authors that tried to implement a full behavior analysis, none reached a consensual use of the terms used to describe planarian gaits yet, nor did they establish a comprehensive description of a potential planarian nociceptive system. The aim of this review is therefore to aggregate the ancient and the most recent evidence for a true nociceptive behavior in planarians. It also highlights the convenience and relevance of this invertebrate model for nociceptive tests and suggests further lines of research. In regards to past pharmacological studies, this review finally discusses the opportunities given by the model to extensively screen for novel antinociceptive drugs.
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Wong LL, Bruxvoort CG, Cejda NI, Delaney MR, Otero JR, Forsthoefel DJ. Intestine-enriched apolipoprotein b orthologs are required for stem cell progeny differentiation and regeneration in planarians. Nat Commun 2022; 13:3803. [PMID: 35778403 PMCID: PMC9249923 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31385-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Lipid metabolism plays an instructive role in regulating stem cell state and differentiation. However, the roles of lipid mobilization and utilization in stem cell-driven regeneration are unclear. Planarian flatworms readily restore missing tissue due to injury-induced activation of pluripotent somatic stem cells called neoblasts. Here, we identify two intestine-enriched orthologs of apolipoprotein b, apob-1 and apob-2, which mediate transport of neutral lipid stores from the intestine to target tissues including neoblasts, and are required for tissue homeostasis and regeneration. Inhibition of apob function by RNAi causes head regression and lysis in uninjured animals, and delays body axis re-establishment and regeneration of multiple organs in amputated fragments. Furthermore, apob RNAi causes expansion of the population of differentiating neoblast progeny and dysregulates expression of genes enriched in differentiating and mature cells in eight major cell type lineages. We conclude that intestine-derived lipids serve as a source of metabolites required for neoblast progeny differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lily L Wong
- Genes and Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
| | - Christina G Bruxvoort
- Genes and Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
- Arthritis and Clinical Immunology Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
- Department of Pathology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
- Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center - Research Services, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
| | - Nicholas I Cejda
- Genes and Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
- Center for Biomedical Data Science, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
| | - Matthew R Delaney
- Genes and Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
| | - Jannette Rodriguez Otero
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
- Department of Education, Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA
| | - David J Forsthoefel
- Genes and Human Disease Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA.
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA.
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Sun Z, Yu T, Cao X, Gao L, Pang Q, Liu B, Deng H. Identification and characterization of Deoxyribonuclease II in planarian Dugesia japonica. Gene 2022; 826:146464. [PMID: 35358655 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.146464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Revised: 03/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Deoxyribonuclease II (DNase II) has been found to regulate inflammation, autoimmunity and apoptosis in vertebrates and invertebrates. The strong capacity of degrading DNA makes DNase II play an important role in the immune process. Planarian has become one of the model references due to its strong immune system, the environment they live makes planarians face the threat of microorganisms and injury, the strong immune system can protect planarians from the threat of bacterial and infection. In this study, we found that there was DNase in the lysis buffer of planarians, then we acquired the sequence of DjDN2s (Dugesia japonica DNase2s) and confirmed the DjDN2s were conserved DNase IIs. The predicted structure showed the active sites and binding patterns of DjDN2s. Whole-mount in situ hybridization results showed DjDN2s mainly expressed in immune organs. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that the expression of DjDN2s upregulated in varying degrees when got hurt and challenged with bacteria, and the knockdown of DjDN2s led to the slower repair of wound. The recombinant phages which take DjDN2 also had the ability to degrade DNA and clear young biofilm of Gram-negative bacteria. Collectively, DNase II of planarian might play a role in the antimicrobial response and wound-induced response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhe Sun
- School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255000, China
| | - Tong Yu
- School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255000, China
| | - Xiangyu Cao
- School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255000, China
| | - Lili Gao
- School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255000, China
| | - Qiuxiang Pang
- School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255000, China.
| | - Baohua Liu
- School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255000, China; Shenzhen University of Health Science Center, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518060, China.
| | - Hongkuan Deng
- School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, 255000, China.
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50
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Guo L, Bloom JS, Dols-Serrate D, Boocock J, Ben-David E, Schubert OT, Kozuma K, Ho K, Warda E, Chui C, Wei Y, Leighton D, Lemus Vergara T, Riutort M, Sánchez Alvarado A, Kruglyak L. Island-specific evolution of a sex-primed autosome in a sexual planarian. Nature 2022; 606:329-334. [PMID: 35650439 PMCID: PMC9177419 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04757-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
The sexual strain of the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea, indigenous to Tunisia and several Mediterranean islands, is a hermaphrodite1,2. Here we isolate individual chromosomes and use sequencing, Hi-C3,4 and linkage mapping to assemble a chromosome-scale genome reference. The linkage map reveals an extremely low rate of recombination on chromosome 1. We confirm suppression of recombination on chromosome 1 by genotyping individual sperm cells and oocytes. We show that previously identified genomic regions that maintain heterozygosity even after prolonged inbreeding make up essentially all of chromosome 1. Genome sequencing of individuals isolated in the wild indicates that this phenomenon has evolved specifically in populations from Sardinia and Corsica. We find that most known master regulators5-13 of the reproductive system are located on chromosome 1. We used RNA interference14,15 to knock down a gene with haplotype-biased expression, which led to the formation of a more pronounced female mating organ. On the basis of these observations, we propose that chromosome 1 is a sex-primed autosome primed for evolution into a sex chromosome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Longhua Guo
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA.
| | - Joshua S Bloom
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Daniel Dols-Serrate
- Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística, Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - James Boocock
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Eyal Ben-David
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, Hebrew University of Jerusalem-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Olga T Schubert
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Kaiya Kozuma
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Katarina Ho
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Emily Warda
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Clarice Chui
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Yubao Wei
- Institute of Reproductive Medicine, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Daniel Leighton
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Tzitziki Lemus Vergara
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
| | - Marta Riutort
- Departament de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística, Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Leonid Kruglyak
- Department of Human Genetics and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA.
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