scholarly journals Cell-type-specific promoters for C. elegans glia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Fung ◽  
Leigh Wexler ◽  
Maxwell G. Heiman
Keyword(s):  
Glial Cell ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Glial Function ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
And Function

ABSTRACTGlia shape the development and function of the C. elegans nervous system, especially its sense organs and central neuropil (nerve ring). Cell-type-specific promoters allow investigators to label or manipulate individual glial cell types, and therefore provide a key tool for deciphering glial function. In this technical resource, we compare the specificity, brightness, and consistency of cell-type-specific promoters for C. elegans glia. We identify a set of promoters for the study of seven glial cell types (F16F9.3, amphid and phasmid sheath glia; F11C7.2, amphid sheath glia only; grl-2, amphid and phasmid socket glia; hlh-17, cephalic (CEP) sheath glia; and grl-18, inner labial (IL) socket glia) as well as a pan-glial promoter (mir-228). We compare these promoters to promoters that are expressed more variably in combinations of glial cell types (delm-1 and itx-1). We note that the expression of some promoters depends on external conditions or the internal state of the organism, such as developmental stage, suggesting glial plasticity. Finally, we demonstrate an approach for prospectively identifying cell-type-specific glial promoters using existing single-cell sequencing data, and we use this approach to identify two novel promoters specific to IL socket glia (col-53 and col-177).

scholarly journals Profound functional and molecular diversity of mitochondria revealed by cell type-specific profiling in vivo

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Fecher ◽  
Laura Trovò ◽  
Stephan A. Müller ◽  
Nicolas Snaidero ◽  
Jennifer Wettmarshausen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Diversity ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Long Chain Fatty Acids ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Mitochondrial Proteome ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
And Function

AbstractMitochondria vary in morphology and function in different tissues, however little is known about their molecular diversity among cell types. To investigate mitochondrial diversity in vivo, we developed an efficient protocol to isolate cell type-specific mitochondria based on a new MitoTag mouse. We profiled the mitochondrial proteome of three major neural cell types in cerebellum and identified a substantial number of differential mitochondrial markers for these cell types in mice and humans. Based on predictions from these proteomes, we demonstrate that astrocytic mitochondria metabolize long-chain fatty acids more efficiently than neurons. Moreover, we identified Rmdn3 as a major determinant of ER-mitochondria proximity in Purkinje cells. Our novel approach enables exploring mitochondrial diversity on the functional and molecular level in many in vivo contexts.

scholarly journals Independent glial subtypes delay development and extend healthy lifespan upon reduced insulin-PI3K signalling

BMC Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel S. Woodling ◽  
Arjunan Rajasingam ◽  
Lucy J. Minkley ◽  
Alberto Rizzo ◽  
Linda Partridge
Keyword(s):  
Glial Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Developmental Timing ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Distinct Cell ◽  
Pi3k Signalling ◽  
Cell Type Specific

Abstract Background The increasing age of global populations highlights the urgent need to understand the biological underpinnings of ageing. To this end, inhibition of the insulin/insulin-like signalling (IIS) pathway can extend healthy lifespan in diverse animal species, but with trade-offs including delayed development. It is possible that distinct cell types underlie effects on development and ageing; cell-type-specific strategies could therefore potentially avoid negative trade-offs when targeting diseases of ageing, including prevalent neurodegenerative diseases. The highly conserved diversity of neuronal and non-neuronal (glial) cell types in the Drosophila nervous system makes it an attractive system to address this possibility. We have thus investigated whether IIS in distinct glial cell populations differentially modulates development and lifespan in Drosophila. Results We report here that glia-specific IIS inhibition, using several genetic means, delays development while extending healthy lifespan. The effects on lifespan can be recapitulated by adult-onset IIS inhibition, whereas developmental IIS inhibition is dispensable for modulation of lifespan. Notably, the effects we observe on both lifespan and development act through the PI3K branch of the IIS pathway and are dependent on the transcription factor FOXO. Finally, IIS inhibition in several glial subtypes can delay development without extending lifespan, whereas the same manipulations in astrocyte-like glia alone are sufficient to extend lifespan without altering developmental timing. Conclusions These findings reveal a role for distinct glial subpopulations in the organism-wide modulation of development and lifespan, with IIS in astrocyte-like glia contributing to lifespan modulation but not to developmental timing. Our results enable a more complete picture of the cell-type-specific effects of the IIS network, a pathway whose evolutionary conservation in humans make it tractable for therapeutic interventions. Our findings therefore underscore the necessity for cell-type-specific strategies to optimise interventions for the diseases of ageing.

scholarly journals Oligodendrocytes and Microglia Are Selectively Vulnerable to Combined Hypoxia and Hypoglycemia Injury in Vitro

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 521-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan A. Lyons ◽  
Helmut Kettenmann
Keyword(s):  
Lactate Dehydrogenase ◽  
Glial Cell ◽  
Glial Cells ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Neonatal Rat ◽  
Radical Scavenger ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Hypoxic Conditions ◽  
Cell Type Specific

The major classes of glial cells, namely astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglial cells were compared in parallel for their susceptibility to damage after combined hypoxia and hypoglycemia or hypoxia alone. The three glial cell types were isolated from neonatal rat brains, separated, and incubated in N2/CO2-gassed buffer-containing glucose or glucose substitutes, 2-deoxyglucose or mannitol (both nonmetabolizable sugars). The damage to the cells after 6 hours' exposure was determined at 0, 1, 3, 7 days based on release of lactate dehydrogenase and counting of ethidium bromide–stained dead cells, double-stained with cell-type specific markers. When 2-deoxyglucose replaced glucose during 6 hours of hypoxia, both oligodendrocytes and microglia rarely survived (18% and 12%, respectively). Astroglia initially increased the release of lactate dehydrogenase but maintained 98% to 99% viability. When mannitol, a radical scavenger and osmolarity stabilizer, replaced glucose during 6 hours of hypoxia, oligodendrocytes rarely survived (10%), astroglia survival remained at 99%, but microglia survival increased to 50%. After exposure to 6 and 42 hours, respectively, of hypoxic conditions alone, oligodendrocytes exhibited 10% survival whereas microglia and astroglia were only temporarily stressed and subsequently survived. In conclusion, oligodendrocytes, then microglia, are the most vulnerable glial cell types in response to hypoxia or hypoglycemia conditions, whereas astrocytes from the same preparations recover.

scholarly journals Genetic, parental and lifestyle factors influence telomere length

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Andreu-Sanchez ◽  
Geraldine Aubert ◽  
Aida Ripoll-Cladellas ◽  
Sandra Henkelman ◽  
Daria V. Zhernakova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Average Length ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Paternal Age ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Nonsense Mediated Decay ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Telomere Biology

The average length of telomere repeats (TL) declines with age and is considered to be a marker of biological ageing. Here, we measured TL in six blood cell types from 1,046 individuals using the clinically validated Flow-FISH method. We identified remarkable cell-type-specific variations in TL. Host genetics, environmental, parental and intrinsic factors such as sex, parental age, and smoking are associated to variations in TL. By analysing the genome-wide methylation patterns, we identified that the association of maternal, but not paternal, age to TL is mediated by epigenetics. Coupling these measurements to single-cell RNA-sequencing data for 62 participants revealed differential gene expression in T-cells. Genes negatively associated with TL were enriched for pathways related to translation and nonsense-mediated decay. Altogether, this study addresses cell-type-specific differences in telomere biology and its relation to cell-type-specific gene expression and highlights how perinatal factors play a role in determining TL, on top of genetics and lifestyle.

scholarly journals Genomics at cellular resolution: insights into cognitive disorders and their evolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (R1) ◽  
pp. R1-R9
Author(s):  
Stefano Berto ◽  
Yuxiang Liu ◽  
Genevieve Konopka
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Disorders ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Specific Cell ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Specific Expression ◽  
Variant Information ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
And Function

Abstract High-throughput genomic sequencing approaches have held the promise of understanding and ultimately leading to treatments for cognitive disorders such as autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. Although significant progress has been made into identifying genetic variants associated with these diseases, these studies have also uncovered that these disorders are mostly genetically complex and thus challenging to model in non-human systems. Improvements in such models might benefit from understanding the evolution of the human genome and how such modifications have affected brain development and function. The intersection of genome-wide variant information with cell-type-specific expression and epigenetic information will further assist in resolving the contribution of particular cell types in evolution or disease. For example, the role of non-neuronal cells in brain evolution and cognitive disorders has gone mostly underappreciated until the recent availability of single-cell transcriptomic approaches. In this review, we discuss recent studies that carry out cell-type-specific assessments of gene expression in brain tissue across primates and between healthy and disease populations. The emerging results from these studies are beginning to elucidate how specific cell types in the evolved human brain are contributing to cognitive disorders.

scholarly journals Single-cell RNA profiling links ncRNAs to spatiotemporal gene expression during C. elegans embryogenesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Sun ◽  
Qichao Yu ◽  
Lei Li ◽  
Zhanlong Mei ◽  
Biaofeng Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Specific Protein ◽  
Embryonic Cells ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Gene Expressions ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Protein Coding Genes ◽  
Cell Type Specific

Abstract Recent studies show that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) can regulate the expression of protein-coding genes and play important roles in mammalian development. Previous studies have revealed that during C. elegans (Caenorhabditis elegans) embryo development, numerous genes in each cell are spatiotemporally regulated, causing the cell to differentiate into distinct cell types and tissues. We ask whether ncRNAs participate in the spatiotemporal regulation of genes in different types of cells and tissues during the embryogenesis of C. elegans. Here, by using marker-free full-length high-depth single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technique, we sequence the whole transcriptomes from 1031 embryonic cells of C. elegans and detect 20,431 protein-coding genes, including 22 cell-type-specific protein-coding markers, and 9843 ncRNAs including 11 cell-type-specific ncRNA markers. We induce a ncRNAs-based clustering strategy as a complementary strategy to the protein-coding gene-based clustering strategy for single-cell classification. We identify 94 ncRNAs that have never been reported to regulate gene expressions, are co-expressed with 1208 protein-coding genes in cell type specific and/or embryo time specific manners. Our findings suggest that these ncRNAs could potentially influence the spatiotemporal expression of the corresponding genes during the embryogenesis of C. elegans.

scholarly journals Lineage-specific control of convergent differentiation by a Forkhead repressor

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Mizeracka ◽  
Julia M. Rogers ◽  
Jonathan D. Rumley ◽  
Shai Shaham ◽  
Martha L. Bulyk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Types ◽  
Human Homolog ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Forkhead Transcription Factor ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Identical Cell ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Activate Cell ◽  
Type Specification ◽  
Specific Control

ABSTRACTDuring convergent differentiation, multiple developmental lineages produce a highly similar or identical cell type. However, the molecular players that drive convergent differentiation are not known. Here, we show that the C. elegans Forkhead transcription factor UNC-130 is required in only one of three convergent lineages that produce the same glial cell type. UNC-130 acts transiently as a repressor in progenitors and newly-born terminal cells to allow the proper specification of cells related by lineage rather than by cell type. Specification defects correlate with UNC-130:DNA binding, and UNC-130 can be functionally replaced by its human homolog, the neural crest lineage determinant FoxD3. We propose that, in contrast to terminal selectors that activate cell-type specific transcriptional programs in terminally differentiating cells, UNC-130 acts earlier to enable molecularly distinct progenitors to produce equivalent cell types. These findings provide evidence that convergent differentiation involves distinct transcriptional paths leading to the same cell type.

scholarly journals Cell type-specific weighting-factors for accurate virtual single-cell RNA-sequencing of diverse organs

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kengo Tejima ◽  
Satoshi Kozawa ◽  
Thomas N. Sato
Keyword(s):  
Single Cell ◽  
Rna Sequencing ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Human Organ ◽  
Weighting Factors ◽  
Single Cell Rna Sequencing ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Bulk Tissue

AbstractComputational deconvolution of transcriptome data of organs/tissues uncovers their structural and functional complexities at cellular resolution without performing single-cell RNA-sequencing experiments. However, the deconvolution of highly heterogenous diverse organs/tissues remains a challenge. Herein, we report “cell type-specific weighting-factors” that are essential for accurate deconvolution, but critically lacking in the existing methods. We computed such weighting-factors for 97 cell-types across 10 mouse organs and demonstrate their effective usage in the Bayesian framework to generate their virtual single-cell RNA-sequencing data, hence accurately estimating both cell-type ratios and the complete transcriptome of each cell-type in these organs. The method also efficiently detects the temporal changes of such cell type-profiles during organ pathogenesis in disease models. Furthermore, we present its potential utility for human organ/bulk-tissue deconvolution. Taken together, the weighting-factors reported herein and their computation for new cell-types and/or new species such as human are essential tools/resources for studying high-resolution biology and disease.

scholarly journals Robust decomposition of cell type mixtures in spatial transcriptomics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan M. Cable ◽  
Evan Murray ◽  
Luli S. Zou ◽  
Aleksandrina Goeva ◽  
Evan Z. Macosko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Types ◽  
Substantial Improvement ◽  
Computational Method ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Type Assignment ◽  
Spatial Environment ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractSpatial transcriptomic technologies measure gene expression at increasing spatial resolution, approaching individual cells. However, a limitation of current technologies is that spatial measurements may contain contributions from multiple cells, hindering the discovery of cell type-specific spatial patterns of localization and expression. Here, we develop Robust Cell Type Decomposition (RCTD, https://github.com/dmcable/RCTD), a computational method that leverages cell type profiles learned from single-cell RNA sequencing data to decompose mixtures, such as those observed in spatial transcriptomic technologies. Our approach accounts for platform effects introduced by systematic technical variability inherent to different sequencing modalities. We demonstrate RCTD provides substantial improvement in cell type assignment in Slide-seq data by accurately reproducing known cell type and subtype localization patterns in the cerebellum and hippocampus. We further show the advantages of RCTD by its ability to detect mixtures and identify cell types on an assessment dataset. Finally, we show how RCTD’s recovery of cell type localization uniquely enables the discovery of genes within a cell type whose expression depends on spatial environment. Spatial mapping of cell types with RCTD has the potential to enable the definition of spatial components of cellular identity, uncovering new principles of cellular organization in biological tissue.

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