Neuromesodermal progenitors are a conserved source of spinal cord with divergent growth dynamics

TY - JOUR

T1 - Neuromesodermal progenitors are a conserved source of spinal cord with divergent growth dynamics

AU - Attardi, Andrea

AU - Fulton, Timothy

AU - Florescu, Maria

AU - Shah, Gopi

AU - Muresan, Leila

AU - Lenz, Martin O

AU - Lancaster, Courtney

AU - Huisken, Jan

AU - van Oudenaarden, Alexander

AU - Steventon, Benjamin

N1 - © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

PY - 2018/11/9

Y1 - 2018/11/9

N2 - During gastrulation, embryonic cells become specified into distinct germ layers. In mouse, this continues throughout somitogenesis from a population of bipotent stem cells called neuromesodermal progenitors (NMps). However, the degree of self-renewal associated with NMps in the fast-developing zebrafish embryo is unclear. Using a genetic clone-tracing method, we labelled early embryonic progenitors and found a strong clonal similarity between spinal cord and mesoderm tissues. We followed individual cell lineages using light-sheet imaging, revealing a common neuromesodermal lineage contribution to a subset of spinal cord tissue across the anterior-posterior body axis. An initial population subdivides at mid-gastrula stages and is directly allocated to neural and mesodermal compartments during gastrulation. A second population in the tailbud undergoes delayed allocation to contribute to the neural and mesodermal compartment only at late somitogenesis. Cell tracking and retrospective cell fate assignment at late somitogenesis stages reveal these cells to be a collection of mono-fated progenitors. Our results suggest that NMps are a conserved population of bipotential progenitors, the lineage of which varies in a species-specific manner due to vastly different rates of differentiation and growth.

AB - During gastrulation, embryonic cells become specified into distinct germ layers. In mouse, this continues throughout somitogenesis from a population of bipotent stem cells called neuromesodermal progenitors (NMps). However, the degree of self-renewal associated with NMps in the fast-developing zebrafish embryo is unclear. Using a genetic clone-tracing method, we labelled early embryonic progenitors and found a strong clonal similarity between spinal cord and mesoderm tissues. We followed individual cell lineages using light-sheet imaging, revealing a common neuromesodermal lineage contribution to a subset of spinal cord tissue across the anterior-posterior body axis. An initial population subdivides at mid-gastrula stages and is directly allocated to neural and mesodermal compartments during gastrulation. A second population in the tailbud undergoes delayed allocation to contribute to the neural and mesodermal compartment only at late somitogenesis. Cell tracking and retrospective cell fate assignment at late somitogenesis stages reveal these cells to be a collection of mono-fated progenitors. Our results suggest that NMps are a conserved population of bipotential progenitors, the lineage of which varies in a species-specific manner due to vastly different rates of differentiation and growth.

U2 - 10.1242/dev.166728

DO - 10.1242/dev.166728

M3 - Article

C2 - 30333213

SN - 0950-1991

VL - 145

JO - Development (Cambridge)

JF - Development (Cambridge)

IS - 21

ER -