Cell lineage analysis of germ cells of Drosophila melanogaster.
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To clarify the mechanism of cerebellar development, we have cloned a gene, named zic, encoding a zinc finger protein that is expressed abundantly in granule cells throughout development of the cerebellum. zic has a significant homology to the zinc finger domain of the Caenorhabditis elegans tra1 gene, the Drosophila cubitus interruptus Dominant gene, and the human GLI oncogene. An in situ hybridization study revealed that zic showed a restricted expression pattern in the granule cells and their putative precursor cells. It is also expressed at an early embryonic stage in the dorsal half of the neural tube. The expression pattern and nuclear localization were confirmed by immunohistochemical study. Furthermore, the bacterially expressed zic protein containing the zinc finger domains bound to the GLI-binding sequence. These findings suggest that zic is one of a number of nuclear factors involved in both differentiation in early development and maintenance of properties of the cerebellar granule cells.
gamma/delta T cells with different TCR repertoires are compartmentalized in different epithelia. This raises the possibility that the TCR-gamma/delta directs homing of T cells to these epithelia. Alternatively, the signals that induce TCR-gamma/delta expression in developing T cells may also induce homing properties in such cells, presumably in the form of cell surface receptors. We have examined this issue by studying the homing of gamma/delta T cells in transgenic mice constructed with specific pairs of rearranged gamma and delta genes. In such mice, most gamma/delta T cells express the transgene-encoded TCR. We find that homing to both skin and gut epithelia is a property of T cells and is not determined by the type of gamma and delta genes used to encode their TCR. We also studied the effect of TCR replacement on the expression of Thy-1 and CD8 proteins on the gamma/delta T cells associated with gut epithelia. Our results show that the expression of the appropriate type of TCR-gamma/delta is not required for the Thy-1 expression by these T cells, suggesting that Thy-1 is not an activation marker. In contrast, CD8 expression by gut gamma/delta T cells seems to depend on the expression of the appropriate type of TCR.
The homeostatic regulation that controls total thymocyte and peripheral T-cell numbers is not clearly understood. We describe here a direct hormonal influence of endogenous levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) on thymocyte and peripheral T-cell homeostasis independent of indirect systemic effects of GCs. The results were obtained by generating transgenic mice with an altered GC sensitivity targeted to thymocytes and peripheral T cells by increasing or decreasing glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression specifically in thymocytes and peripheral T cells. A twofold increase in GC sensitivity resulted in a major decrease in thymocyte number, affecting all subpopulations, although single-positive CD8+ cells were less influenced. In the thymus, this was due to increased apoptosis in the organ, whereas proliferation of thymocyte populations was unaffected. In the periphery, a pronounced reduction in T-cell number was seen, demonstrating an effect of endogenous GCs also on T-cell homeostasis. The effects were confirmed in transgenic mice with reduced GR expression, which showed increased thymocyte and T-cell numbers. Thus, our data demonstrate that physiological GC levels are directly involved in controlling the size of both thymocyte and T-cell pools.
Endothelial and mesothelial cells are mesodermally derived simple squamous epithelial cells. A controversy concerning the ontogenetic origin of neoplasms derived from these cell types, commonly cited in the literature, is whether Kaposi's sarcoma is a mesothelioma or an angioma. To assess the similarities and differences between these cell types, pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVEC) and pericardial mesothelial cells (PMC) were cultured in vitro. PMVEC and PMC were found to be difficult to distinguish from one another by histological criteria alone. Both cell types formed contact-inhibited, and 'cobblestone', monolayers typical of simple epithelial cells. PMVEC and PMC demonstrated positive immunoreactivity to Factor VIII-related antigen and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) antigen. They also showed uptake of 1,1'-dioctacecyl-1,3,3,3',3-tetramethyl-indocarbocyanine perchlorate acetylated low density lipoprotein (DiI-Ac-LDL) in 4 h. Both PMVEC and PMC expressed low ACE activities when compared to macrovessel endothelial cells. PMVEC and PMC shared similar isoform profiles for vimentin and actin. Both cell types expressed the simple epithelial keratins, cytokeratins 8 and 19, though PMC contained 50% more cytokeratins than PMVEC. Additionally, PMC contained cytokeratin 18, an intermediate filament protein not detectable in PMVEC. PMC formed 15 times as many epithelial ringlets or "stomata" as PMVEC. PMVEC but not PMC could be induced in vitro to differentiate into branching tube-like structures in response to their culture environment. Reorganization of PMVEC into vessel-like structures was more rapid and complete than PMC when embedded in three-dimensional collagen I lattices, cultured on Matrigel or exposed to a shaped-pulsed electromagnetic field. The angiogenic response of PMVEC to specialized culture conditions in vitro may reflect their phenotypic differentiation state characterized by anastomosing vascular structures in vivo, whereas PMC remain differentiated into monolayer sheet-like structures.
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Brain injury and subsequent neurodegeneration are often associated with infiltrating leukocytes and the activation of microglia as well as other infiltrating cells. However, the characteristics of activation are poorly understood. The objective of this study was to further the understanding of brain regulation of microglial activation. We used an organotypic coculture paradigm to assess how brain-derived soluble factors modulate microglia and peripheral macrophage activation through microscopy and flow cytometry techniques. In the presence of brain-derived soluble factors, the BV2 microglia cell line increased MHC II and phagocytic receptor (Fcgamma II/III) expression. The increased expression correlated with a functional increase in phagocytic activity, but did not correlate with an increase in allostimulation ability. Furthermore, this interaction was selective to an interaction between brain-derived soluble factor(s) and BV2 microglia, since it was not observed in the ANA1 macrophage cell line or in primary peritoneal macrophages. The results indicated that brain-derived soluble factor(s) modulate microglial activation in a manner that is distinct from the effects on peripheral macrophages. Moreover, our results suggest that inflammatory events associated with some types of brain injury may be induced by the brain without dependence on infiltrating peripheral macrophages or T lymphocytes.
Immune processes such as phagocytosis of debris and antigen presentation can be damaging to the function and survival of brain cells. Understanding what conditions and factors mediate immune processes in the brain is central to ameliorating the pathology associated with brain injury and disease. The elevation of secreted interleukin (IL)-6 is a common feature of brain injury and neurodegenerative pathology. Using organotypic brain slice coculture, the effects of brain-derived soluble factors on immune functions in the BV2 microglial cell line were studied. We have previously shown that brain-derived soluble factors upregulated phagocytic activity and class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC II) expression and altered BV2 morphology in a manner selective for microglia and not peripheral macrophages. The present study used IL-6-neutralizing antibody to show that brain-derived IL-6 was at least partially responsible for the brain coculture-induced upregulation of MHC II expression in the BV2 microglia. Additionally, IL-6 upregulated phagocytic activity and induced morphological changes in the BV2 cells similar to brain coculture. These effects were selective for microglia, as they were not observed in peripheral macrophage cell types. The ability of IL-6-neutralizing antibody to downregulate MHC II expression while maintaining enhanced phagocytic activity could potentially evade an antagonizing immune response associated with brain injury or disease.
The zinc finger transcription factor GATA-1 is essential for both primitive (embryonic) and definitive (adult) erythropoiesis. To define the roles of GATA-1 in the production and differentiation of primitive and definitive erythrocytes, we established GATA-1-null embryonic stem cell lines in which GATA-1 was able to be conditionally expressed by using the tetracycline conditional gene expression system. The cells were subjected to hematopoietic differentiation by coculturing on OP9 stroma cells. We expressed GATA-1 in the course of primitive and definitive erythropoiesis and analyzed the ability of GATA-1 to rescue the defective erythropoiesis caused by the GATA-1 null mutation. Our results show that GATA-1 functions in the proliferation and maturation of erythrocytes in a distinctive manner. The early-stage expression of GATA-1 during both primitive and definitive erythropoiesis was sufficient to promote the proliferation of red blood cells. In contrast, the late-stage expression of GATA-1 was indispensable to the terminal differentiation of primitive and definitive erythrocytes. Thus, GATA-1 affects the proliferation and differentiation of erythrocytes by different mechanisms.
Previous studies have proposed the involvement of caspase-3, a downstream executioner enzyme common to many paradigms of programmed cell death (PCD), in mediating the apoptosis of both germ and somatic cells in the ovary. Herein we used caspase-3 gene knockout mice to directly test for the functional requirement of this protease in oocyte and/or granulosa cell demise. Using both in vivo and in vitro approaches, we determined that oocyte death initiated as a result of either developmental cues or pathological insults was unaffected by the absence of caspase-3. However, granulosa cells of degenerating antral follicles in both mouse and human ovaries showed a strong immunoreaction using an antibody raised against the cleaved (activated) form of caspase-3. Furthermore, caspase-3 mutant female mice possessed aberrant atretic follicles containing granulosa cells that failed to be eliminated by apoptosis, as confirmed by TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxy-UTP nick end labeling) analysis of DNA cleavage and 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining of nuclear morphology (pyknosis). These in vivo results were supported by findings from in vitro cultures of wild-type and caspase-3-deficient antral follicles or isolated granulosa cells. Contrasting the serum starvation-induced occurrence of apoptosis in wild-type granulosa cells, caspase-3-null granulosa cells deprived of hormonal support were TUNEL-negative, showed attenuated chromatin condensation by 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining and exhibited delayed internucleosomal DNA cleavage. Such ex vivo findings underscore the existence of a cell autonomous (granulosa cell intrinsic) defect in apoptosis execution resulting from caspase-3 deficiency. We conclude that caspase-3 is functionally required for granulosa cell apoptosis during follicular atresia, but that the enzyme is dispensable for germ cell apoptosis in the female.
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Since its first application in mice almost 10 yr ago, the Cre/loxP has become the system of choice to study gene function in vivo in a cell-type, stage-specific, and inducible manner. This chapter provides a set of updated protocols that will help the reader to construct a vector for conditional gene targeting, to in vitro manipulate embryonic stem (ES) cells and to rapidly identify successfully targeted ES colonies. It also provides an updated list of Cre strains currently used to assess gene function at defined stages of B-cell development and guidelines to generate single-copy, knock-in transgenes regulated in a Cre-dependent manner.
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Midline cells are a common feature of both insects and crustaceans. Midline cells in the insects Schistocerca americana and Drosophila melanogaster have been shown to give rise to pairs of either neurons or glial cells (midline precursor) as well as to repeatedly generate neurons (median neuroblast) or both neurons and glia (median neuroglioblast). This study addresses midline cell lineages in a higher crustacean, the amphipod Orchestia cavimana. In vivo labeling of single midline cells shows that the resulting cell lineage is invariant and that these cells act as progenitors for sets of three glial precursors and one median neuroblast. The progeny are restricted to parasegmental units. The glial precursors give rise to three pairs of glial cells; two of them enwrap the commissures. The median neuroblast gives rise to about 10 cells that differentiate into 3 classes of neurons. The presence of median neuroblasts is also shown for another higher crustacean, the isopod Porcellio scaber using BrdU labeling. This is the first study to analyze the cell lineage of crustacean neurons generated by early ectodermal precursors. A comparison with those of insects demonstrates both conservation and change during the evolution of arthropods.
Cell lineage specification in molluscs is brought about by two mechanism: the segregation of morphogenetic plasms and inductive cell interactions. The evidence for the existence of morphogenetic plasms is largely circumstantial, but in one species, Bithynia, such a plasm has been identified in the polar lobe that forms at first cleavage. Inductive cell interactions are thought to be a prerequisite for the development of a large number of tissues and organs. The most extensively studied example is the specification of the mesodermal stem cell in Lymnaea and Patella, which occurs between 5th and 6th cleavage through an interaction between one macromere and a large number of micromeres. Both segregation and induction are tuned to the animal-vegetal polarity of the egg, at least during early development. This polarity probably arises during oogenesis and is manifest in regional differentiations of the surface architecture of the egg, in the distribution of inner membrane particles in the plasma membrane, in membrane fluidity characteristics, in ionic conductance properties of the plasma membrane, etc. All these phenomena have in common that they represent properties of the egg surface, suggesting that the polarity of the egg is somehow imprinted into the plasma membrane and the cortex of the egg during oogenesis.
The segmented tissues of the adult leech arise from a set of five, bilaterally paired embryonic stem cells via a stereotyped sequence of cell lineage. Individual segments exhibit unique patterns of cell differentiation, and previous studies have suggested that each stem cell lineage establishes at least some aspects of its own segmental specificity autonomously. In this paper, we describe a putative leech segment identity gene, Lox2, and examine its expression in the various stem cell lineages. Both sequence analysis and the segmental pattern of Lox2 expression suggest a specific homology to the fruitfly segment identity genes Ubx and abdA. In situ hybridization reveals a cellular accumulation of Lox2 RNA over a contiguous domain of 16 midbody segments (M6-M21), including postmitotic neurons, muscles and the differentiating genitalia. Lox2 transcripts were not detected at the stage when segment identities are first established, suggesting that Lox2 gene products may not be part of the initial specification process. Individual stem cell lineages were labeled by intracellular injection of fluorescent tracers, and single cell colocalization of lineage tracer and hybridization reaction product revealed expression of Lox2 RNA in the progeny of four different stem cells. The segmental domain of Lox2 RNA was very similar in the various stem cell lineages, despite the fact that some stem cells generate one founder cell/segment, whereas other stem cells generate two founder cells/segment.
MOTIVATION: Recent dynamic lineage tracing technologies use genome editing to induce heritable mutations, or edits, that accumulate across successive cell divisions. These edits are measured using single-cell sequencing or imaging, providing data to reconstruct cell lineages at single-cell resolution. Current computational approaches to infer cell lineage trees, or phylogenies, from these data perform two separate steps: (i) Identify each cell's edits (genotype) from the raw sequencing or imaging data; (ii) Infer a cell lineage tree from the cell genotypes. However, genotyping cells is an inexact process and genotype errors can yield an inaccurate lineage tree. For example, using fluorescence based-imaging to measure edits results in a high fraction (≈25%-50%) of uncertain or erroneous genotypes. RESULTS: We introduce Lineage Analysis via Maximum Likelihood with PRobabilistic Observations (LAML-Pro), an algorithm that jointly infers cell genotypes and a cell lineage tree. LAML-Pro is based on the Probabilistic Mixed-type Missing Observation (PMMO) model, which we derive to describe both the genome editing and genotype observation processes. LAML-Pro constructs lineage trees from thousands of cells in under an hour by leveraging the sparsity of transitions under the PMMO model. On simulated data, we demonstrate that LAML-Pro corrects genotype errors and infers substantially more accurate trees than existing methods which are vulnerable to genotype errors. Applied to data from two recent imaging-based lineage tracing systems, LAML-Pro reduces genotype errors by 5-fold and produces more spatially coherent lineage trees compared to existing methods. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: LAML-Pro is implemented in C++ and is available as both a command-line interface and as a Python library at: github.com/raphael-group/LAML-Pro.