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Dissection and Culture of Mouse Embryonic Kidney
Published on: May 17, 2017
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Single cell dissection of early kidney development: multilineage priming
Eric W Brunskill1, Joo-Seop Park2, Eunah Chung2
1Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USA.
Development (Cambridge, England)
|July 24, 2014
Summary
Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals early kidney development involves multilineage priming, where progenitor cells express multiple developmental pathways before lineage commitment through gene repression and activation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Genomics
- Nephrology
Background:
- Kidney development involves complex cellular differentiation from uniform progenitor populations.
- Understanding gene expression dynamics is crucial for deciphering organogenesis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To create a gene expression atlas of the developing kidney using single-cell RNA sequencing.
- To investigate the molecular mechanisms driving lineage commitment in early kidney progenitors.
Main Methods:
- Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of mouse kidneys at embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5) and E12.5.
- scRNA-seq analysis of renal vesicles at postnatal day 4 (P4).
Main Results:
- Identified multilineage priming in early progenitor cells, expressing genes from multiple developmental pathways.
- Observed stochastic expression of differentiated marker genes in E11.5 progenitors.
- Characterized polarized gene expression in renal vesicles, the initial nephron precursor.
- Discovered novel splicing events in Hox gene transcripts and partially degraded noncoding RNAs.
Conclusions:
- Early kidney organogenesis is characterized by multilineage priming, followed by lineage restriction via gene repression and activation.
- Single-cell resolution reveals unexpected complexity and stochasticity in early developmental gene expression patterns.
