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Published on: May 8, 2020
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Lineage analysis reveals an endodermal contribution to the vertebrate pituitary
Peter Fabian1, Kuo-Chang Tseng1, Joanna Smeeton1,2
1Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, W.M. Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|October 23, 2020
Summary
The pituitary gland
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Evolutionary biology
- Endocrinology
Background:
- Vertebrate sensory organs develop from placodes, crucial for head evolution.
- The anterior-most placode forms the pituitary's endocrine lobe (adenohypophysis, ADH).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the origins of the adenohypophysis.
- To explore potential endodermal contributions to pituitary development.
Main Methods:
- Lineage tracing in zebrafish.
- Time-lapse imaging.
- Single-cell RNA sequencing of adult pituitary.
Main Results:
- Identified an endodermal contribution to the ADH in zebrafish.
- Endodermal and ectodermal epithelia show similar cell-type generation potential.
- Endoderm can form a rudimentary ADH-like structure without significant ectodermal input.
Conclusions:
- The vertebrate pituitary likely evolved from an ancestral endoderm-derived proto-pituitary interacting with placodal ectoderm.
- This study reveals a dual origin for the pituitary gland, involving both endodermal and ectodermal tissues.
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