Dissecting the Complexity of Early Heart Progenitor Cells

Early heart development depends on the coordinated participation of heterogeneous cellsources. As pioneer work from Adriana C. Gittenberger-de Groot demonstrated, characterizing thesedistinct cell sources helps us to understand congenital heart defects. Despite decades of researchon the segregation of lineages that form the primitive heart tube, we are far from understanding itsfull complexity. Currently, single-cell approaches are providing an unprecedented level of detail oncellular heterogeneity, offering new opportunities to decipher its functional role. In this review, wewill focus on three key aspects of early heart morphogenesis: First, the segregation of myocardial andendocardial lineages, which yields an early lineage diversification in cardiac development; second,the signaling cues driving differentiation in these progenitor cells; and third, the transcriptionalheterogeneity of cardiomyocyte progenitors of the primitive heart tube. Finally, we discuss howsingle-cell transcriptomics and epigenomics, together with live imaging and functional analyses, willlikely transform the way we delve into the complexity of cardiac development and its links withcongenital defects.

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Outflow Tract Formation—Embryonic Origins of Conotruncal Congenital Heart Disease

Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease ◽

10.3390/jcdd8040042 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 42

Author(s):

Sonia Stefanovic ◽

Heather C. Etchevers ◽

Stéphane Zaffran

Keyword(s):

Congenital Heart ◽

Cardiac Development ◽

Heart Defects ◽

Dynamic Structure ◽

Cell Types ◽

Outflow Tract ◽

Heart Tube ◽

Heart Field ◽

Multiple Cell ◽

The Many

Anomalies in the cardiac outflow tract (OFT) are among the most frequent congenital heart defects (CHDs). During embryogenesis, the cardiac OFT is a dynamic structure at the arterial pole of the heart. Heart tube elongation occurs by addition of cells from pharyngeal, splanchnic mesoderm to both ends. These progenitor cells, termed the second heart field (SHF), were first identified twenty years ago as essential to the growth of the forming heart tube and major contributors to the OFT. Perturbation of SHF development results in common forms of CHDs, including anomalies of the great arteries. OFT development also depends on paracrine interactions between multiple cell types, including myocardial, endocardial and neural crest lineages. In this publication, dedicated to Professor Andriana Gittenberger-De Groot and her contributions to the field of cardiac development and CHDs, we review some of her pioneering studies of OFT development with particular interest in the diverse origins of the many cell types that contribute to the OFT. We also discuss the clinical implications of selected key findings for our understanding of the etiology of CHDs and particularly OFT malformations.

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Abnormal Cardiac Development in the Absence of Heart Glycogen

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.24.16.7179-7187.2004 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 24 (16) ◽

pp. 7179-7187 ◽

Cited By ~ 68

Author(s):

Bartholomew A. Pederson ◽

Hanying Chen ◽

Jill M. Schroeder ◽

Weinian Shou ◽

Anna A. DePaoli-Roach ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cardiac Function ◽

Cardiac Muscle ◽

Heart Development ◽

Congenital Heart ◽

Cardiac Development ◽

Glycogen Synthase ◽

Heart Defects ◽

Mendelian Inheritance ◽

And Function ◽

Impaired Cardiac Function

ABSTRACT Glycogen serves as a repository of glucose in many mammalian tissues. Mice lacking this glucose reserve in muscle, heart, and several other tissues were generated by disruption of the GYS1 gene, which encodes an isoform of glycogen synthase. Crossing mice heterozygous for the GYS1 disruption resulted in a significant underrepresentation of GYS1-null mice in the offspring. Timed matings established that Mendelian inheritance was followed for up to 18.5 days postcoitum (dpc) and that ∼90% of GYS1-null animals died soon after birth due to impaired cardiac function. Defects in cardiac development began between 11.5 and 14.5 dpc. At 18.5 dpc, the hearts were significantly smaller, with reduced ventricular chamber size and enlarged atria. Consistent with impaired cardiac function, edema, pooling of blood, and hemorrhagic liver were seen. Glycogen synthase and glycogen were undetectable in cardiac muscle and skeletal muscle from the surviving null mice, and the hearts showed normal morphology and function. Congenital heart disease is one of the most common birth defects in humans, at up to 1 in 50 live births. The results provide the first direct evidence that the ability to synthesize glycogen in cardiac muscle is critical for normal heart development and hence that its impairment could be a significant contributor to congenital heart defects.

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Abstract 011: Transcriptional Basis Of Epicardial Progenitor Cell Activation During Heart Development, Regeneration And Repair

Circulation Research ◽

10.1161/res.113.suppl_1.a011 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 113 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Guo N Huang ◽

Jeffrey E Thatcher ◽

John McAnally ◽

Yongli Kong ◽

Xiaoxia Qi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Progenitor Cells ◽

Heart Development ◽

Progenitor Cell ◽

Cell Activation ◽

Cardiac Development ◽

Expression System ◽

Neutrophil Infiltration ◽

Developmental Gene ◽

Paracrine Factors ◽

Multipotent Progenitor Cells

The epicardium encapsulates the heart and functions as a source of multipotent progenitor cells and paracrine factors essential for cardiac development and repair. Injury of the adult heart results in reactivation of epicardial progenitor cells, which reengages a developmental gene program, but the underlying transcriptional basis has not been delineated. We established a mouse embryonic heart organ culture and gene expression system that facilitated the identification of epicardial enhancers activated during heart development and injury. Epicardial activation of these enhancers depends on a combinatorial transcriptional code centered on C/EBP, HOX, MEIS, and GRAINYHEAD families of transcription factors. Furthermore, disruption of C/EBP signaling in the adult epicardium reduced injury-induced neutrophil infiltration and improved cardiac function. These findings reveal a transcriptional basis for epicardial progenitor cell activation during heart development and injury, providing a platform for enhancing cardioprotection and regeneration.

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Cardiac embryogenesis

ESC CardioMed ◽

10.1093/med/9780198784906.003.0004_update_001 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 33-36

Author(s):

Robert G. Kelly

Keyword(s):

Progenitor Cells ◽

Progenitor Cell ◽

Congenital Heart ◽

Heart Defects ◽

Embryonic Heart ◽

Heart Tube ◽

Second Heart Field ◽

Heart Field ◽

Cell Niche ◽

The Right

The embryonic heart forms in anterior lateral splanchnic mesoderm and is derived from Mesp1-expressing progenitor cells. During embryonic folding, the earliest differentiating progenitor cells form the linear heart tube in the ventral midline. The heart tube extends in length and loops to the right as new myocardium is progressively added at the venous and arterial poles from multipotent second heart field cardiovascular progenitor cells in contiguous pharyngeal mesoderm. While the linear heart tube gives rise to the left ventricle, the right ventricle, outflow tract, and a large part of atrial myocardium are derived from the second heart field. Progressive myocardial differentiation is controlled by intercellular signals within the progenitor cell niche. The embryonic heart is the template for septation and growth of the four-chambered definitive heart and defects in progenitor cell deployment result in a spectrum of common forms of congenital heart defects.

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Hey2 restricts cardiac progenitor addition to the developing heart

10.1101/199638 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Natalie Gibb ◽

Savo Lazic ◽

Ashish R. Deshwar ◽

Xuefei Yuan ◽

Michael D. Wilson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heart Development ◽

Heart Defects ◽

Myocardial Cell ◽

Cell Number ◽

Tube Formation ◽

Heart Tube ◽

Cardiac Progenitors ◽

Developing Heart ◽

Heart Field ◽

A Cell

ABSTRACTA key event in vertebrate heart development is the timely addition of second heart field (SHF) progenitor cells to the poles of the heart tube. This accretion process must occur to the proper extent to prevent a spectrum of congenital heart defects (CHDs). However, the factors that regulate this critical process are poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that Hey2, a bHLH transcriptional repressor, restricts SHF progenitor accretion to the zebrafish heart. hey2 expression demarcated a distinct domain within the cardiac progenitor population. In the absence of Hey2 function an increase in myocardial cell number and SHF progenitors was observed. We found that Hey2 limited proliferation of SHF-derived cardiomyocytes in a cell-autonomous manner, prior to heart tube formation, and further restricted the developmental window over which SHF progenitors were deployed to the heart. Taken together, our data suggests a role for Hey2 in controlling the proliferative capacity and cardiac contribution of late-differentiating cardiac progenitors.

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The role of KMT2D and KDM6A in cardiac development: A cross-species analysis in humans, mice, and zebrafish

10.1101/2020.04.03.024646 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rwik Sen ◽

Ezra Lencer ◽

Elizabeth A. Geiger ◽

Kenneth L. Jones ◽

Tamim H. Shaikh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Heart Development ◽

Target Genes ◽

Cardiac Development ◽

Heart Defects ◽

Neural Crest Cell ◽

Kabuki Syndrome ◽

Rna Seq ◽

Wide Range

AbstractCongenital Heart Defects (CHDs) are the most common form of birth defects, observed in 4-10/1000 live births. CHDs result in a wide range of structural and functional abnormalities of the heart which significantly affect quality of life and mortality. CHDs are often seen in patients with mutations in epigenetic regulators of gene expression, like the genes implicated in Kabuki syndrome – KMT2D and KDM6A, which play important roles in normal heart development and function. Here, we examined the role of two epigenetic histone modifying enzymes, KMT2D and KDM6A, in the expression of genes associated with early heart and neural crest cell (NCC) development. Using CRISPR/Cas9 mediated mutagenesis of kmt2d, kdm6a and kdm6al in zebrafish, we show cardiac and NCC gene expression is reduced, which correspond to affected cardiac morphology and reduced heart rates. To translate our results to a human pathophysiological context and compare transcriptomic targets of KMT2D and KDM6A across species, we performed RNA sequencing (seq) of lymphoblastoid cells from Kabuki Syndrome patients carrying mutations in KMT2D and KDM6A. We compared the human RNA-seq datasets with RNA-seq datasets obtained from mouse and zebrafish. Our comparative interspecies analysis revealed common targets of KMT2D and KDM6A, which are shared between species, and these target genes are reduced in expression in the zebrafish mutants. Taken together, our results show that KMT2D and KDM6A regulate common and unique genes across humans, mice, and zebrafish for early cardiac and overall development that can contribute to the understanding of epigenetic dysregulation in CHDs.

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Hox-dependent coordination of cardiac progenitor cell patterning and differentiation

10.1101/2020.01.23.916981 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sonia Stefanovic ◽

Brigitte Laforest ◽

Jean-Pierre Desvignes ◽

Fabienne Lescroart ◽

Laurent Argiro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Progenitor Cells ◽

Heart Defects ◽

Embryonic Stem ◽

Chromatin Accessibility ◽

Cardiac Differentiation ◽

Cardiac Progenitor Cells ◽

Heart Tube ◽

Atrioventricular Septal Defects ◽

Genome Wide ◽

Heart Field

SUMMARYPerturbation of addition of second heart field (SHF) cardiac progenitor cells to the poles of the heart tube results in congenital heart defects (CHD). The transcriptional programs and upstream regulatory events operating in different subpopulations of the SHF remain unclear. Here, we profile the transcriptome and chromatin accessibility of anterior and posterior SHF sub-populations at genome-wide levels and demonstrate that Hoxb1 negatively regulates differentiation in the posterior SHF. Spatial mis-expression of Hoxb1 in the anterior SHF results in hypoplastic right ventricle. Activation of Hoxb1 in embryonic stem cells arrests cardiac differentiation, whereas Hoxb1-deficient embryos display premature cardiac differentiation. Moreover, ectopic differentiation in the posterior SHF of embryos lacking both Hoxb1 and its paralog Hoxa1 results in atrioventricular septal defects. Our results show that Hoxb1 plays a key role in patterning cardiac progenitor cells that contribute to both cardiac poles and provide new insights into the pathogenesis of CHD.

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The Expanding Role for Retinoid Signaling in Heart Development

The Scientific World JOURNAL ◽

10.1100/tsw.2008.39 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 194-211 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Loretta L. Hoover ◽

Elizabeth G. Burton ◽

Bonnie A. Brooks ◽

Steven W. Kubalak

Keyword(s):

Vitamin A ◽

Heart Development ◽

Cardiac Development ◽

Tube Formation ◽

Conditional Knockout ◽

Heart Tube ◽

Developmental Defects ◽

Retinoid Signaling ◽

Developing Heart ◽

Cardiac Lineage

The importance of retinoid signaling during cardiac development has long been appreciated, but recently has become a rapidly expanding field of research. Experiments performed over 50 years ago showed that too much or too little maternal intake of vitamin A proved detrimental for embryos, resulting in a cadre of predictable cardiac developmental defects. Germline and conditional knockout mice have revealed which molecular players in the vitamin A signaling cascade are potentially responsible for regulating specific developmental events, and many of these molecules have been temporally and spatially characterized. It is evident that intact and controlled retinoid signaling is necessary for each stage of cardiac development to proceed normally, including cardiac lineage determination, heart tube formation, looping, epicardium formation, ventricular maturation, chamber and outflow tract septation, and coronary arteriogenesis. This review summarizes many of the significant milestones in this field and particular attention is given to recently uncovered cross-talk between retinoid signaling and other developmentally significant pathways. It is our hope that this review of the role of retinoid signaling during formation, remodeling, and maturation of the developing heart will serve as a tool for future discoveries.

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Cardiac embryogenesis

ESC CardioMed ◽

10.1093/med/9780198784906.003.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 33-36

Author(s):

Robert G. Kelly

Keyword(s):

Progenitor Cells ◽

Progenitor Cell ◽

Congenital Heart ◽

Heart Defects ◽

Embryonic Heart ◽

Heart Tube ◽

Second Heart Field ◽

Heart Field ◽

Cell Niche ◽

The Right

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From Stripes to a Beating Heart: Early Cardiac Development in Zebrafish

Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease ◽

10.3390/jcdd8020017 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 17

Author(s):

Cassie L. Kemmler ◽

Fréderike W. Riemslagh ◽

Hannah R. Moran ◽

Christian Mosimann

Keyword(s):

Congenital Heart Defects ◽

Heart Development ◽

Congenital Heart ◽

Cardiac Development ◽

Heart Defects ◽

Lineage Tracing ◽

Genetic Lineage ◽

Zebrafish Model ◽

Lateral Plate ◽

Cardiac Progenitors

The heart is the first functional organ to form during vertebrate development. Congenital heart defects are the most common type of human birth defect, many originating as anomalies in early heart development. The zebrafish model provides an accessible vertebrate system to study early heart morphogenesis and to gain new insights into the mechanisms of congenital disease. Although composed of only two chambers compared with the four-chambered mammalian heart, the zebrafish heart integrates the core processes and cellular lineages central to cardiac development across vertebrates. The rapid, translucent development of zebrafish is amenable to in vivo imaging and genetic lineage tracing techniques, providing versatile tools to study heart field migration and myocardial progenitor addition and differentiation. Combining transgenic reporters with rapid genome engineering via CRISPR-Cas9 allows for functional testing of candidate genes associated with congenital heart defects and the discovery of molecular causes leading to observed phenotypes. Here, we summarize key insights gained through zebrafish studies into the early patterning of uncommitted lateral plate mesoderm into cardiac progenitors and their regulation. We review the central genetic mechanisms, available tools, and approaches for modeling congenital heart anomalies in the zebrafish as a representative vertebrate model.

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