Tracing the origin of alveolar stem cells in lung repair and regeneration.

Alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells are stem cells of the alveolar epithelia. Previous genetic lineage tracing studies reported multiple cellular origins for AT2 cells after injury. However, conventional lineage tracing based on Cre-loxP has the limitation of non-specific labeling. Here, we introduced a dual recombinase-mediated intersectional genetic lineage tracing approach, enabling precise investigation of AT2 cellular origins during lung homeostasis, injury, and repair. We found AT1 cells, being terminally differentiated, did not contribute to AT2 cells after lung injury and repair. Distinctive yet simultaneous labeling of club cells, bronchioalveolar stem cells (BASCs), and existing AT2 cells revealed the exact contribution of each to AT2 cells post-injury. Mechanistically, Notch signaling inhibition promotes BASCs but impairs club cells' ability to generate AT2 cells during lung repair. This intersectional genetic lineage tracing strategy with enhanced precision allowed us to elucidate the physiological role of various epithelial cell types in alveolar regeneration following injury.

An inducible hACE2 transgenic mouse model recapitulates SARS-CoV-2 infection and pathogenesis in vivo.

The classical manifestation of COVID-19 is pulmonary infection. After host cell entry via human angiotensin-converting enzyme II (hACE2), the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus can infect pulmonary epithelial cells, especially the AT2 (alveolar type II) cells that are crucial for maintaining normal lung function. However, previous hACE2 transgenic models have failed to specifically and efficiently target the cell types that express hACE2 in humans, especially AT2 cells. In this study, we report an inducible, transgenic hACE2 mouse line and showcase three examples for specifically expressing hACE2 in three different lung epithelial cells, including AT2 cells, club cells, and ciliated cells. Moreover, all these mice models develop severe pneumonia after SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study demonstrates that the hACE2 model can be used to precisely study any cell type of interest with regard to COVID-19-related pathologies.

Intercellular genetic tracing of cardiac endothelium in the developing heart.

Cardiac resident macrophages play vital roles in heart development, homeostasis, repair, and regeneration. Recent studies documented the hematopoietic potential of cardiac endothelium that supports the generation of cardiac macrophages and peripheral blood cells in mice. However, the conclusion was not strongly supported by previous genetic tracing studies, given the non-specific nature of conventional Cre-loxP tracing tools. Here, we develop an intercellular genetic labeling system that can permanently trace heart-specific endothelial cells based on cell-cell interaction in mice. Results from cell-cell contact-mediated genetic fate mapping demonstrate that cardiac endothelial cells do not exhibit hemogenic potential and do not contribute to cardiac macrophages or other circulating blood cells. This Matters Arising paper is in response to Shigeta et al. (2019), published in Developmental Cell. See also the response by Liu and Nakano (2023), published in this issue.

Lineage tracing clarifies the cellular origin of tissue-resident macrophages in the developing heart.

Tissue-resident macrophages play essential functions in the maintenance of tissue homeostasis and repair. Recently, the endocardium has been reported as a de novo hemogenic site for the contribution of hematopoietic cells, including cardiac macrophages, during embryogenesis. These observations challenge the current consensus that hematopoiesis originates from the hemogenic endothelium within the yolk sac and dorsal aorta. Whether the developing endocardium has such a hemogenic potential requires further investigation. Here, we generated new genetic tools to trace endocardial cells and reassessed their potential contribution to hematopoietic cells in the developing heart. Fate-mapping analyses revealed that the endocardium contributed minimally to cardiac macrophages and circulating blood cells. Instead, cardiac macrophages were mainly derived from the endothelium during primitive/transient definitive (yolk sac) and definitive (dorsal aorta) hematopoiesis. Our findings refute the concept of endocardial hematopoiesis, suggesting that the developing endocardium gives rise minimally to hematopoietic cells, including cardiac macrophages.

Genetic Fate Mapping of Transient Cell Fate Reveals N-Cadherin Activity and Function in Tumor Metastasis.

Genetic lineage tracing unravels cell fate and plasticity in development, tissue homeostasis, and diseases. However, it remains technically challenging to trace temporary or transient cell fate, such as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in tumor metastasis. Here, we generated a genetic fate-mapping system for temporally seamless tracing of transient cell fate. Highlighting its immediate application, we used it to study EMT gene activity from the local primary tumor to a distant metastatic site in vivo. In a spontaneous breast-to-lung metastasis model, we found that primary tumor cells activated vimentin and N-cadherin in situ, but only N-cadherin was activated and functionally required during metastasis. Tumor cells that have ever expressed N-cadherin constituted the majority of metastases in lungs, and functional deletion of N-cad significantly reduced metastasis. The seamless genetic recording system described here provides an alternative way for understanding transient cell fate and plasticity in biological processes.

Simultaneous quantitative assessment of two distinct cell lineages with a nuclear-localized dual genetic reporter.

Genetic lineage tracing has been widely used for studying in vivo cell fate plasticity during embryogenesis, tissue homeostasis, and disease development. Recent applications with multiple site-specific recombinases have been used in complex and sophisticated genetic fate mapping studies. However, the previous multicolor reporters for dual recombinases had limitations of precise in situ quantification of cell number, which is mainly due to the intermingling of cells in condensed tissues. Here, we generated a dual recombinase-mediated nuclear-localized GFP and tdTomato reporter line, which enables clear, simultaneous quantification of two distinct cell lineages in vivo. Combining this dual genetic reporter with Tbx18-Cre and Cdh5-Dre lines, which genetically trace epicardial and endothelial cells, respectively, we obtained high-resolution images for the anatomic distribution of the descendants of these two distinct cell lineages in the valve mesenchyme during development, remodeling, and maturation stages. This new dual genetic reporter is expected to facilitate fate tracing of two cell lineages and their objective quantification in vivo.

Generation of a self-cleaved inducible Cre recombinase for efficient temporal genetic manipulation.

Site-specific recombinase-mediated genetic technology, such as inducible Cre-loxP recombination (CreER), is widely used for in vivo genetic manipulation with temporal control. The Cre-loxP technology improves our understanding on the in vivo function of specific genes in organ development, tissue regeneration, and disease progression. However, inducible CreER often remains inefficient in gene deletion. In order to improve the efficiency of gene manipulation, we generated a self-cleaved inducible CreER (sCreER) that switches inducible CreER into a constitutively active Cre by itself. We generated endocardial driver Npr3-sCreER and fibroblast driver Col1a2-sCreER, and compared them with conventional Npr3-CreER and Col1a2-CreER, respectively. For easy-to-recombine alleles such as R26-tdTomato, there was no significant difference in recombination efficiency between sCreER and the conventional CreER. However, for alleles that were relatively inert for recombination such as R26-Confetti, R26-LZLT, R26-GFP, or VEGFR2flox/flox alleles, sCreER showed a significantly higher efficiency in recombination compared with conventional CreER in endocardial cells or fibroblasts. Compared with conventional CreER, sCreER significantly enhances the efficiency of recombination to induce gene expression or gene deletion, allowing temporal yet effective in vivo genomic modification for studying gene function in specific cell lineages.

Triple-cell lineage tracing by a dual reporter on a single allele.

Genetic lineage tracing is widely used to study organ development and tissue regeneration. Multicolor reporters are a powerful platform for simultaneously tracking discrete cell populations. Here, combining Dre-rox and Cre-loxP systems, we generated a new dual-recombinase reporter system, called Rosa26 traffic light reporter (R26-TLR), to monitor red, green, and yellow fluorescence. Using this new reporter system with the three distinct fluorescent reporters combined on one allele, we found that the readouts of the two recombinases Cre and Dre simultaneously reflect Cre+Dre-, Cre-Dre+, and Cre+Dre+ cell lineages. As proof of principle, we show specific labeling in three distinct progenitor/stem cell populations, including club cells, AT2 cells, and bronchoalveolar stem cells, in Sftpc-DreER;Scgb1a1-CreER;R26-TLR mice. By using this new dual-recombinase reporter system, we simultaneously traced the cell fate of these three distinct cell populations during lung repair and regeneration, providing a more comprehensive picture of stem cell function in distal airway repair and regeneration. We propose that this new reporter system will advance developmental and regenerative research by facilitating a more sophisticated genetic approach to studying in vivo cell fate plasticity.

A class B scavenger receptor mediates antimicrobial peptide secretion and phagocytosis in Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis).

Scavenger receptors (SRs) are pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) vital for innate immunity. As well as their importance in immune recognition, microbe phagocytosis, and the clearance of modified endogenous molecules, they also activate downstream immune responses as co-receptors. In the current study, we identified a class B scavenger receptor in Eriocheir sinensis (EsSR-B2). The full-length gene is 2,517 bp and encodes a 517 amino acid polypeptide. EsSR-B2 is expressed widely in all tested tissues and is induced by microbial stimulation. Recombinant EsSR-B2 binds to bacteria and pathogen-associated molecular patterns in vitro. Upon knockdown of EsSR-B2 and bacterial challenge with Staphylococcus aureus or Vibrio parahaemolyticus, phagocytosis rates in hemocytes are decreased. Moreover, the expression of several antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in response to distinct microorganism stimulation is decreased following EsSR-B2 silencing. Thus, EsSR-B2 is a PRR that protects E. sinensis against invading pathogens by promoting phagocytosis and enhancing AMP expression.

Genotype-Phenotype Association Analysis Reveals New Pathogenic Factors for Osteogenesis Imperfecta Disease.

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), mainly caused by structural abnormalities of type I collagen, is a hereditary rare disease characterized by increased bone fragility and reduced bone mass. Clinical manifestations of OI mostly include multiple repeated bone fractures, thin skin, blue sclera, hearing loss, cardiovascular and pulmonary system abnormalities, triangular face, dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI), and walking with assistance. Currently, 20 causative genes with 18 subtypes have been identified for OI, of them, variations in COL1A1 and COL1A2 have been demonstrated to be major causative factors to OI. However, the complexity of the bone formation process indicates that there are potential new pathogenic genes associated with OI. To comprehensively explore the underlying mechanism of OI, we conducted association analysis between genotypes and phenotypes of OI diseases and found that mutations in COL1A1 and COL1A2 contributed to a large proportion of the disease phenotypes. We categorized the clinical phenotypes and the genotypes based on the variation types for those 155 OI patients collected from literature, and association study revealed that three phenotypes (bone deformity, DI, walking with assistance) were enriched in two variation types (the Gly-substitution missense and groups of frameshift, nonsense, and splicing variations). We also identified four novel variations (c.G3290A (p.G1097D), c.G3289C (p.G1097R), c.G3289A (p.G1097S), c.G3281A (p.G1094D)) in gene COL1A1 and two novel variations (c.G2332T (p.G778C), c.G2341T (p.G781C)) in gene COL1A2, which could potentially contribute to the disease. In addition, we identified several new potential pathogenic genes (ADAMTS2, COL5A2, COL8A1) based on the integration of protein-protein interaction and pathway enrichment analysis. Our study provides new insights into the association between genotypes and phenotypes of OI and novel information for dissecting the underlying mechanism of the disease.

Author Correction: Lung regeneration by multipotent stem cells residing at the bronchioalveolar-duct junction.

In the version of this article initially published, the following grant numbers and recipients were missing from the Acknowledgements: XDB19000000 to H.J. and B.Z.; 81430066 and 31621003 to H.J.; 2017YFA0505500 to H.J.; and 15XD1504000 to H.J. The errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

Lung regeneration by multipotent stem cells residing at the bronchioalveolar-duct junction.

Characterizing the stem cells responsible for lung repair and regeneration is important for the treatment of pulmonary diseases. Recently, a unique cell population located at the bronchioalveolar-duct junctions has been proposed to comprise endogenous stem cells for lung regeneration. However, the role of bronchioalveolar stem cells (BASCs) in vivo remains debated, and the contribution of such cells to lung regeneration is not known. Here we generated a genetic lineage-tracing system that uses dual recombinases (Cre and Dre) to specifically track BASCs in vivo. Fate-mapping and clonal analysis showed that BASCs became activated and responded distinctly to different lung injuries, and differentiated into multiple cell lineages including club cells, ciliated cells, and alveolar type 1 and type 2 cells for lung regeneration. This study provides in vivo genetic evidence that BASCs are bona fide lung epithelial stem cells with deployment of multipotency and self-renewal during lung repair and regeneration.

Corrigendum: Genotype-Phenotype Association Analysis Reveals New Pathogenic Factors for Osteogenesis Imperfecta Disease.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2019.01200.].

A dual genetic tracing system identifies diverse and dynamic origins of cardiac valve mesenchyme.

In vivo genomic engineering is instrumental for studying developmental biology and regenerative medicine. Development of novel systems with more site-specific recombinases (SSRs) that complement with the commonly used Cre-loxP would be valuable for more precise lineage tracing and genome editing. Here, we introduce a new SSR system via Nigri-nox. By generating tissue-specific Nigri knock-in and its responding nox reporter mice, we show that the Nigri-nox system works efficiently in vivo by targeting specific tissues. As a new orthogonal system to Cre-loxP, Nigri-nox provides an additional control of genetic manipulation. We also demonstrate how the two orthogonal systems Nigri-nox and Cre-loxP could be used simultaneously to map the cell fate of two distinct developmental origins of cardiac valve mesenchyme in the mouse heart, providing dynamics of cellular contribution from different origins for cardiac valve mesenchyme during development. This work provides a proof-of-principle application of the Nigri-nox system for in vivo mouse genomic engineering. Coupled with other SSR systems, Nigri-nox would be valuable for more precise delineation of origins and cell fates during development, diseases and regeneration.